Captain's Cousin
by Striped Leopard 626
Summary: When Jonanthan Archer's cousin, Kelly Archer comes aboard, will things be okay, or will both Archers go insane? Malcolm has a question for Kelly.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I don't know whether Henry Archer actually has a brother, but I have no evidence to prove otherwise, so here wer go!

Disclaimer: Don't own, wish I did. (Kelly Archer's mine though...)

Kelly Archer threw the ball against the wall, and caught it as it bounced back. She had just gotten word from Starfleet Command that Enterprise was back on Earth for repairs. She threw the foam ball even harder, and it made a dull thud as it hit the wall again. She caught it expertly in one had and sighed. At least one thing had come from all those years of playing water polo with her cousin, Jonathan Archer. She had become extremely coordinated. She had to be, playing with him. The chirp of the doorbell interrupted her thoughts, and she threw the ball against the wall. She knew exactly who it was, and she didn't feel like getting the bell. Jon should have remembered the code. As the soft hiss of the door opening reached her ears, she threw the ball against the wall with an exceptionally loud thud.

"Kelly?" She heard her cousin call. She ignored him, throwing the ball again. "Just stay here a moment." He said to someone downstairs. "Kelly? Are you still throwing that damn ball?"

"Your father didn't seem to mind." She said, throwing the ball closer to the door as he walked in. She was stretched out on her bed, her Starfleet uniform hung on a hook on the other side of the room. She was wearing her usual jeans and dark colored shirt. She turned her pale gray eyes up to meet her cousin's brown ones.

"In case you haven't noticed, he's not here." Jon said, sounding slightly annoyed. "Now come on downstairs, there's someone I want you to meet." Kelly groaned, throwing the ball at her older cousin's head. He caught it, a stern look on his face. She swing her long legs over the side of her bed and got to her bare feet.

"Please don't tell me you're trying to fix me up with someone again." She said. Jon muttered something she could understand behind her. "Because the last guy you tried that with got his ass kicked."

"That wasn't entirely his fault." Jon retorted, preceding his cousin down the stairs. "Besides. We're only here for about a week." Kelly tucked a strand of raven hair behind her ear as she followed her cousin. A young man with soft, dark hair and incredibly blue eyes was standing in the foyer. He looked up at her, and arched an eyebrow.

"Captain-" He began, and Kelly noticed he had a light British accent. Kelly looked down at her cousin, and slapped the back of his head.

"Jon, you didn't answer my question!" She said. Jon rubbed the back of his head and looked up in disbelief at her.

"You hit me!"

"And you're avoiding the question!" She gave his shoulder a shove. He grinned at her and gave her a shove that caused her to fall back onto the stairs, hitting her elbow. She got to her feet, grinning in what she hoped was an evil way. "You're so dead!" She said, lunging at him. He laughed, grabbing her wrist and spinning it around. She spun under her own arm, and brought her knee up into contact with his stomach. He let go of her arm and took a step back.

"You've been practicing." He said. Kelly punched him lightly in the arm.

"Well, two years does that." She said. "You still didn't answer me." Jon grinned, shaking his head.

"No Kelly, I'm not." He said. He looked over at the man standing in the middle of the foyer and shook his head. "Kelly this is my armory officer, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed." Kelly gave him a nod. "Malcolm, this is my cousin, Lieutenant Kelly Archer." Kelly stuck out her hand, and Malcolm took it in a firm handshake.

"Pleasure." He said.

"While Enterprise is getting repaired, he'll be staying with us." He said. Kelly raised an eyebrow at Malcolm.

"You didn't want to go home?" She asked. Malcolm shifted uncomfortably.

"Things between myself and my family aren't the best right now." He said. Kelly nodded, and looked back over at Jon. He grinned in response to her unasked question about the whereabouts of his best friend.

"Trip says hi." He said. "And insists that you call him when you get a chance." Kelly nodded, and looked back at Malcolm.

"I'll show you the guest room." She said, and headed back up the stairs. Malcolm picked up his bag and headed after her. As he passed the Captain, Jon put a hand on his shoulder to pause him for a moment.

"Malcolm?"

"Yes Captain?" Came the expected and immediate reply.

"She's a very odd person. Just be careful." As Jon headed off down one of the halls off the foyer, Malcolm stared at the wall in front of him. He was wondering if that was meant as the brother-like warning of stay away from her, or if it was the friend's warning about him getting hurt. Shaking his head, he decided it would be best not to try to figure it out too much.

"Malcolm, are you coming?" Kelly asked from the top of the stairs, her voice echoing in the stairwell. Without replying, Malcolm headed up the stairs. Kelly directed him into a brightly lit, traditionally decorated room. A full size bed stuck out into the room, with a dresser on either side, an armoire at the foot of the bed, and a large desk in the corner of the room, all made from the same light shade of oak. Next to the desk was a long, handsome brown leather couch with a few books randomly strewn about. A set of double doors lead out onto a balcony and another door, this one open, lead into a partially empty walk-in closet. It was filled about a third of the way with file boxes and seemingly randomly placed data pads. Malcolm finished surveying the room and turned to find Kelly still standing in the doorway, eyeing him. When she realized he knew she was staring, her face flushed slightly.

"There's a pool out back if you feel like swimming, and some game tables in the basement. Bathroom's down the hall to the right, and if you need anything, my room's to the left at the top of the stairs." Malcolm nodded, and watched her disappear on the other side of the door frame. He sighed, and glanced at the clock. It was decidedly going to be a long week.

Kelly bounced on the diving board a few times. She had been able to avoid her cousin for the past four days by hiding out in her room and finishing up on a few reports before she officially went on vacation. Admiral Forrest had agreed to let her take the week off, since Jon was home. As she prepared to dive into the pool, the squeak of the gate opening startled her out of her thoughts, and she almost lost her balance. When she had partially regained her balance, she saw it was Malcolm who had walked in, and fell off the diving board. As she fell into the water, her head hit the side of the pool, hard. Stars danced in front of her eyes as she began to sink. Dazed, she heard a splash, and suddenly someone was pulling her upwards. Her head broke the surface, and she grabbed the side of the pool, gasping for air. As her vision cleared, she looked over at Malcolm, who was looking concerned.

"Thanks." She said. He nodded, climbing out of the pool. Kelly decided to stay underwater. She had decided to wear a black bikini because she hadn't actually thought anyone would come out to join her. She loved the feel of water against her skin.

"No problem." Malcolm said, heading back to his towel.

"Where are you going?" Kelly asked, and he turned around.

"I thought you'd want to be alone." He said. Kelly shrugged.

"I don't mind." She said, pushing off the side. She swam over under the diving board, and turned to face the other end of the pool. "I was just going to do some laps." She pushed off the wall, streamlining (gliding) for a quarter of the length of the pool, then breaking into a seamless breaststroke for the remaining length. When she reached the other end, she saw Malcolm was gone. She shook her head and continued her laps.

Later on that evening, Jon knocked on her door. She sighed and put down her book. "Come in." She called, sitting up. He stuck his head in.

"How're you feeling?" He asked. She shrugged.

"What'd you want?" She asked. He gave her one of his half-amused smiles.

"Malcolm and I were going to go out and meet Trip for some drinks." He said. "Want to come?" Kelly shrugged.

"Sure. Let me get changed." She said. She pulled a black halter top out of her closet and tossed it on her bed, along with a pair of low riding dark blue jeans. After she'd changed, she hurried downstairs where Malcolm and Jon were waiting.

"When you said you were getting changed, I didn't think you meant into that." Jon said, pointedly eyeing her shirt. She gave him a lopsided grin as she grabbed her shoes from by the door. They were heels, about two and a half inches high, black sandals. She pulled her dark hair up into a ponytail and secured it with a black ribbon. She grabbed a black coat that fell down to her knees and looked up at Jon, who was frowning.

"I'm not changing Jon, so don't even ask. Now, are you two coming?" Reluctantly, Jon got out of his chair, and Malcolm quickly followed suit.

"Kelly! Jon! Malcolm!" Trip shouted over the music. Kelly grimaced. When Jon had said they were going o get drinks, she had guessed they would have been going to the 602 club, not a dance club that she herself had tried to avoid. Not that she minded, she had gotten to see Trip. They had been in the same year at the academy, and had become friends. As a teenager, she had often wondered if it could have been more, but she didn't trouble herself with past events now.

"Trip!" She cried, running over and giving him a hug, which he quickly returned.

"How're you doin?" Trip asked in his adorable southern accent. She grinned.

"I'm great!" She said, letting him put a hand on her back and guide her toward a table in the back, Malcolm and Jon trailing behind. The music was quieter here, and Kelly could hear herself think. Trip's eyes widened as she took off her coat.

"What the hell're you wearin?" He shouted, and Kelly laughed. Jon rolled his eyes. "Jon, you let her go out like this?" Trip demanded, pretending to be outraged. Jon joined in Malcolm's soft laughter. "I might just have to ask your cousin for a dance!" Jon shook his head.

"I'll get us some drinks!" He said, and left. Malcolm got up a few moments later. Kelly moved over to sit next to Trip so they didn't have to shout across the table.

"Jon said you fell into the pool this mornin." He said. Kelly shrugged.

"Yeah. I hit my head on the bottom." She replied. Trip's eyes widened. "But Malcolm pulled me out." Trip's eyebrows shot up.

"Malcolm jumped into the pool?" He asked. Kelly nodded, unsure of why this was so important. Trip laughed. "Aqua phobia, yeah right." He muttered, and Kelly stared at him in confusion. Trip sighed. "Malcolm's a aqua phobic Kel." It was Kelly turn to laugh uneasily.

A couple of drinks later, Trip extended his hand to her as he got up. "May I have this dance lady?" Laughing, Kelly took his hand, and let him lead her out onto the dance floor. A couple of dances later, Trip told her to wait there for a minute, then vanished. Unsure of what he was doing, she decided to try to find her way back to the table, but had lost her sense of direction while dancing. The two beers she had in her admittedly didn't help much either. She found herself near the bar, and decided it best if she got out of there, but someone put a hand on her shoulder. She spun around to find a very drunk, and very familiar young man behind her. She stumbled backward in her effort to get out of his reach. His name was Alex Talbot. She had gone out with him while she was in the academy. He had been a waiter at a restaurant she and Trip and the rest of their friends had frequented. A few months into their relationship, he tried to force himself on her. He probably would have succeeded had Trip not decided to drop in. He had kicked Alex's ass out of her room, and nearly beat him into a pulp. It had taken six security officers to pull him off Alex.

Her mind was brought back to the present when Alex took a step toward her. "Haven't seen you for a long time Kelly." He said. Kelly's leg hit a barstool and she fell backwards, her arms flailing. Alex caught her wrist and pulled her toward him. "That southern bastard still hanging around?" Kelly tried to twist out of his grip. "Let me go Alex." She shouted, hopefully loud enough for someone to hear her. She could smell the stale alcohol on his breath, even from an arms length. A hand was placed on Alex's shoulder.

"Though you would've learned your lessen the last time 'lex." Trip said, spinning Alex around. Alex laughed, holding his beer up as though for a toast.

"Commander Tucker." He grinned, showing his beer-stained teeth. He still had a hold on Kelly's wrist, so tightly she thought he might be cutting off circulation. Alex had barely set down his drink before Trip took a swing at him. The beer spilled out all over The bar, and Kelly. She grimaced as the cold drink hit her stomach and dripped down her pants. "Was wondering where you were." He yanked Kelly in front of him, holding her there in a headlock. "Now you're going to leave us alone." Kelly was suddenly dropped, and Trip was grinning.

"I believe you were asked to let her go." Kelly looked up from the floor to see Malcolm with Alex in a headlock, one arm around his throat, his other pressing into the back of head. He gave Trip a nod that clearly told him to leave. Trip nodded and grabbed Kelly's hand. He pulled her to her feet, where she turned to Alex, and gave him a solid thrust kick to the stomach. Malcolm let him go, and Alex promptly doubled, coughing. Trip made to take Kelly arm, but she spun, slamming her foot into Alex's head.

"You're a fu-" Trip clamped a hand over her mouth and with Malcolm's help, pulled her back to the table where Jon was sitting.

"Cap'n," He said, and Jon stood up, looking concerned. "That bastard Talbot's here." Jon nodded, and handed Trip Kelly's coat.

"Let's go." Kelly pulled herself out of Malcolm's grip and marched up to her cousin.

"I'm not going to leave just because my lousy, good for nothing, bone headed ex-boyfriend decided to come here tonight!" She marched off into the crowd before any of them could stop her.

Kelly moaned. Her head was throbbing. She opened her eyes to find she was in her room, at home. Flopping back against her pillows, she listened to the ringing silence and smiled. She hated hangovers, but it made it so much easier when the house was silent. . . "No, that's not right Jon, and you know it!" She heard Trip shout from downstairs. She sat up and found that her jeans had been replaced by sleep shorts, but her halter had been left. She undressed, and grabbed her sky blue silk robe from it's hook by the door and stumbled down the hall to the bathroom. She opened the door and heard a muffled cry from Malcolm. He had been toweling off, but had pulled it up in time. Kelly grimaced, and took an involuntary step backward, shutting her eyes.

"Oh my god." She said. "I am so sorry. I'm not used to sharing a bathroom." Malcolm was glad she had closed her eyes so she couldn't see his face, flushed from embarrassment.

"It's all right." He said, wrapping the towel around his waist. "Neither am I. And with the hangover you must have, I'm not surprised you walked in." Kelly nodded.

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"Yes." Malcolm said, and edged past her. He ducked quickly into his own room and shut the door. Her face still pink with embarrassment, Kelly closed the door and turned on the water. It was still warm from Malcolm's shower.

As she let the warm water run over her, she tried to remember what had happened last night. She remembered stalking away from the three men, but everything was pretty much a blur after that. She had danced some yes. She had danced for a few songs to cool off, then went back. Jon and Trip had gone to get another drink, and she'd had another one. Malcolm had suggested she stop, and she'd asked him to dance. They'd danced for a few songs then she couldn't remember anything. She sighed as she got out of the shower and opened the medicine cabinet above the sink. She pulled out a hypo-spray and pressed it into her neck. As she toweled herself off, the headache began to subside.

When she got downstairs, Trip and Malcolm were having a heated discussion about something to do with the phase cannons. Kelly ignored them, grabbing a piece of toast and walking out into the garden, where she knew she'd find Jon. Sure enough, he was sitting on the bench in the middle of a bed of petunias. She sat down next to him.

"They were Aunt Sally's favorite." She said. He nodded.

"My Dad planted them for her every year." Kelly shook her head.

"Enough about sad things." She said. "What are you really doing here?" She asked. Jon looked up at her, a feigned look on innocence on his face.

"What, me had an agenda?" He asked. Kelly kicked him lightly. Jon shook his head.

"You want me to be blunt?" He asked, still looking off into space.

"Yeah."

"I want you to serve on Enterprise." He said. Kelly took a deep breath and closed her eyes. They'd had this conversation before, when Admiral Forrest had been assigning Jon his crew.

"Jon, I told you, I don't want to be on a starship. I like it just fine right here on Earth."

"Then why the hell'd you join Starfleet?" He asked. Kelly rolled her eyes.

"Because you wanted me to." She said. Jon looked up at her. "Yes I'm serious." She said with a small smile. "You were so happy when I said I was going to join, I couldn't back out. I actually kind of like it."

"Kelly, I need someone who can work ambiguously around the ship." He said. "Understand that if you weren't my cousin, you'd be ordered to join." Kelly sighed.

"Will I be assigned anyway?" Jon gave her one of his small half-smiles. She sighed. "Fine. Fine! I'll join the crew of the famous Enterprise!"

"Well, well." Trip said, coming around the curve of the path with a lopsided grin on his face. "Just one more pretty face to look at everyday." Jon threw Trip a look of feigned anger, and they both laughed. Kelly shook her head, heading into the house. She had a lot to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Kelly shifted in her seat in the back of the shuttlepod. Malcolm was on the bench next to her, and she was sitting across from two young ensigns, who were talking quietly with on another. Tip and Jon were up front, along with the Vulcan science officer, T'Pol. Kelly had been working with the Vulcans for several years now, and found them to be slightly annoying at worst. She had even learned a thing or two. She couldn't understand why Trip didn't like them, and she knew that Jon believed they had held back her Uncle's warp program. She knew they had, but she knew they had their reasons, and she knew a few of them. The first time she had been in a meeting with Ambassador Seval, he had taken nearly a full hour to try to convince her that the Vulcans didn't have any intentions of holding back the warp program for longer than was necessary. She had then spent a half an hour, explaining that she understood how he felt (she had grimaced at the use of that word) and she also knew how her cousin saw it. She had finally managed to convince Seval that she didn't think like her cousin did though, which was a good thing. T'Pol had been there at one of the conferences she had attended a few years before, and they had spoken for a while about different aspects of science. As the ship left the atmosphere, they hit a patch of turbulence, and the female Ensign across the pod let out a squeak.

"Sorry Hoshi." Jon said as the shaking became more violent. Kelly was almost thrown off the bench, but she grabbed Malcolm's arm, releasing it as soon as they were stable. Jon turned around in his seat. "You all right Kelly?" She nodded, and although Jon thought she looked a little pale, he turned back around. It was Kelly's first time in space since her academy training, so she had a right to be nervous. They docked with the ship, and climbed back aboard. The other Ensign, a young man with skin the color of chocolate, grinned.

"Nothing like the smell of recycled oxygen." He said, and Trip laughed. Hoshi fell back next to Kelly.

"You must be the new Lieutenant." She said. "I'm Hoshi Sato." She said. Kelly shook her hand. "I'm the Communications officer on the ship." Kelly nodded.

"Lieutenant Kelly Archer." She said. "Unsure of what the hell I'm doing here." She said. Hoshi smiled, and laughed softly.

"I heard The Captain and Commander talking." She said. "They said you'll be floating around to wherever people need help, which on this ship should keep you pretty busy." She said with a small smile. They had reached the turbo lift. Jon looked back at Kelly.

"Ensign, why don't you show the Lieutenant around the ship?" Hoshi nodded, and Kelly gave the men a small wave, which only Trip returned. She got a small smile from her cousin before the doors closed.

"Ensign Sato!" Both women turned around to see a heavyset man running toward them. Running wasn't actually the right word. It was somewhere between a jog and a hop. Kelly grinned, he was the doctor, Phlox. "I just spoke with the Captain and he said the new Lieutenant was-" He stopped when he saw Kelly. "Ah, you must be the new Lieutenant." He said with a grin. He took her arm. "According to Starfleet regulations, I have to perform an evaluation." Kelly nodded and allowed Phlox to lead her down the hall as he chattered on. Ensign Sato gave Kelly a wave.

"Doctor, can you bring her to the mess hall when you're done?"

"Of course Hoshi!" He called over his shoulder.

An hour later, Kelly found Hoshi sitting in the mess hall, a tray of food in front of her. Kelly got her own tray, and a bowl of fresh fruit salad. She grabbed an empty bowl and took both to the table. Hoshi looked up as she sat down.

"Archer, huh?" She said. Kelly paused a moment, a piece of strawberry about an inch from her mouth.

"What?"

"You last name is Archer. Are you related to the Captain?" She asked. Kelly nodded, popping the berry in her mouth.

"He's my cousin. Our fathers were brothers." She said, and started putting the pineapple slices in the empty bowl she had picked up. Hoshi eyed her.

"Do you not like the pineapple?" She asked as the door to the mess hall opened. Lieutenant Reed walked in, reading something intently off of a PADD. Hoshi waved to Malcolm, who made no movement to suggest he had seen her as he got himself a cup of tea. "Lieutenant!" Reed still made no movement to indicate he had hear her. "Malcolm!" He looked up and spotted Hoshi and Kelly. He gave them a nod, and strode hesitantly over to the table.

"Evening Hoshi." He said, and glanced at Kelly. "You mind?" She shook her head. He had seemingly been avoiding her for a week, ever since she had walked in on him. She shook her head, swallowing another bite of her fruit salad.

"Kelly, you didn't answer my question." Hoshi said with a sly grin. "Do you not like pineapple?" Kelly shook her head as she scooped another forkful of it into the bowl.

"No, I love pineapple." She said, and was suddenly aware Malcolm had stopped looking at his PADD.

"Then why are you picking it out?" He asked. Kelly grinned.

"Because then I get to eat the pineapple all together." She said. "Makes it taste better." Malcolm opened his mouth to say something, but Kelly continued. "I know it's weird, but-"

"No, I was about to agree with you." He said, interrupting her. "Pineapple's my favorite food." Hoshi was about to say something when the comm panel chirped. Hoshi answered it.

"Hoshi, are Lieutenant Reed and Kelly there?" Jon asked. Hoshi nodded as she replied in the affirmative. "Good, because Trip needs Malcolm in the armory, and I thought Kelly might like to see it." Hoshi nodded.

"They're on their way Captain." She said, and informed Malcolm and Kelly. They got up, Kelly taking her bowl of pineapple with her. They were silent as they walked to the armory, until Kelly spoke.

"Have you been avoiding me?" She asked through a mouthful. Malcolm looked over at her, a look of slight confusion on his face.

"Of course not." He said. "What gave you that idea?" Kelly shrugged.

"I donno." She admitted. "It's just I haven't seen you in about a week-"

"I thought you were avoiding me." Malcolm said as the turbo lift came to a stop. Kelly grinned. "Well, now we know we're not avoiding each other. They strode into the armory, and Trip eyed the bowl in Kelly's hands.

"Caught me in the middle of dinner." She said. "Phlox spent over an hour on the 'routine' physical." She said. Trip grinned, and glanced over at Malcolm.

"The EPS grid's throwing off the phase cannon's alignment again." He said. "This is the fifth time this month alone." Malcolm shook his head.

"Have you tried-"

"I've tried everything I could think of Malcolm, but it's not working." Kelly set down her bowl of pineapple, tuning out Malcolm's and Trip's arguments again. She stuck her head into the conduit and shook her head. Something was wrong, but she couldn't place her finger on it. As she looked father down the conduit, she saw the problem. A switch had been blown clear out of place. If one hadn't known it wasn't supposed to be there to start with, they never would have seen it as something wrong. She reached down into the conduit, but her arm wasn't long enough. She looked over at Trip and Malcolm, and knew it would be useless to try to get either one's attention. A week of listening to them bickering had taught her at least that much. She sighed, and made to pull another covering off, which apparently got Trip's attention. He came up behind her, so she handed it to him.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" He asked, and squirmed when she grabbed his arm, and pulled one of his many tools from an unzipped arm pocket. She ducked inside the conduit, and realigned the switch. She handed the tool to Malcolm, and pointed at the readout screen a few feet away.

"It should be okay now." She said. Handing the cover back to Kelly, Trip looked over Malcolm's shoulder.

"I don't believe it." Trip said. "How'd you do that?" Kelly ignored him, a little miffed by him not believing it. "Kelly, come on." Trip said, and Kelly turned her pale gray eyed to meet his blue ones. They weren't quite as blue as Malcolm's, but they were close. Malcolm turned around behind him and eyed her.

"The Captain said something about possibly having you work some in security." He said, and Trip rolled his eyes.

"Oh no, She's staying in the engine room." Kelly shrugged, and picked up the last spoonful of pineapple.

"You two work it out." She said. "Jon said it'd basically be up to you."

"How about we alternate?" Trip suggested, and Kelly rolled her eyes, striding from the room. She paused, realizing she had no idea where her quarters were. She turned back to the two men.

"Do either of you know where my quarters are?" She asked. Both of them stepped forward, and offered to show her. She rolled her eyes, and finally ended up punching Trip lightly on the arm. He shook his head.

"Well, I think Malcolm can show you from here." He said and took off toward engineering, a grin on his face. Malcolm stopped in front of a door, and pressed the button to open the door.

"The quarters themselves are pretty standard." He said. "Though I believe they're a bit more spacious since you do not have to share." Kelly nodded. "In the armory, before Trip interrupted, I was wondering if you'd mind if I test you a bit. The Captain said you are fairly capable with particle weapons?" Kelly nodded, sitting down on her bed.

"If you're not doing anything, tonight would be fine." She said. "My shift starts at eight tomorrow, so I've got time." Malcolm nodded.

"I'll see you in the gym in about five minutes then?" He asked. Kelly nodded and watched him leave. He always seemed so uncomfortable around her, and she wondered if he was the same way with all women, or if it was just her. He had seemed pretty relaxed around Hoshi, but then again, they'd served together for a few years. She shook her head. Why was she even thinking about this? Even if he was rather good-looking, he seemed so stiff. The perfect good little soldier. She shook her head as she pulled on a pair of white workout pants and a long-sleeved white tee-shirt before heading down to the gym. Malcolm had set up a few hologram projectors, and was firing at some spheres that were flying through the air at an almost ridiculous speed. He didn't glanced up as she walked in. A somber-looking crewman was on a treadmill on the other side of the gym, but otherwise it was empty. When the spheres disappeared, Malcolm put the gun down, his back still to her.

"You want to have a try?" He asked, and Kelly shook her head. She didn't know how he knew she was there. He hadn't even looked at her, or made any indication he had known she had entered the room.

"Sure." She said, taking the gun from him. It was longer than she was used to, and she held it against her shoulder awkwardly. After a moment of her trying to reposition it, Malcolm stepped in front of her, and put one hand on the gun, and one on her shoulder.

"No, you have to position it like this if you want to have any accuracy." He said, shifting the rifle into a different spot on her shoulder. Kelly grimaced.

"That feels weird." She said, pointing the gun at imaginary targets all around the room.

"It should. It doesn't have any recoil, so if you hold it closer to your center of gravity, you have better accuracy.." Kelly nodded, and Malcolm turned on the hologram projectors. "Just try to hit it as many times as you can." He said. The small metallic-looking sphere hung in mid air a second before zooming around the room. Kelly fired at it, but was only able to hit it a few times. After thirty seconds, Malcolm walked over behind her. "You're too tense." He said. Kelly snorted as she raised the rifle again, firing bursts of blue light at the ball. She felt him step up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Relax." He said. Kelly took a few steadying breaths and continued firing. She was closer now, but she still wasn't hitting it. Malcolm's hands left her shoulders and he took a step back. "Good. Now lead the ball a little. Not too much, because it might change direction." Kelly nodded, and tried it. Her next seven hits were right on target. "Good." He said, and a moment later the sphere vanished. Kelly turned around and rolled her shoulder. It ached a little from the butt of the gun being pressed into it. She saw Malcolm was getting down sparring equipment. He handed her a pair of padded gloves, taking a pair for himself. Kelly eyed him as she pulled them on.

"You don't talk much, do you?" She asked. Malcolm shook his head and shrugged.

"Neither do you." He said pointedly. Kelly shrugged.

"Only when I've got something to say." Malcolm nodded. He was getting to like Kelly. After the incident at her house, he had been avoiding her a little. He shook his head as he looked up at her. Her face had a blank look to it, but her gray eyes looked as though she were deep in thought.

"Ready?" She nodded, and her eyes fixed on his face. He lunged out with a right, and she blocked, hitting his arm away, and coming in way a left. He blocked hers, and while he did, her foot came up and hooked around his knee, pulling his left leg out from under him. As he fought to keep his balance, her left glove hit him square in the jaw, sending him spinning into the mat. He got up, a hand to his jaw. "That was impressive." He said with a small smile. Kelly gave him a small smile.

"Just a little something I picked up." She said. Malcolm shook his head.

"I've never seen that move before." He said. Kelly shrugged.

"Last time I saw Jon he showed me a few Kligon moves. I spent some time with a few of the younger Vulcan ambassadors last year. You pick up a few things." She said, ducking Malcolm's punch easily. With him off balance, she grabbed his arm near his shoulder with both hands, and spun him around in an attempt to push him completely off balance. He spun his arm in a circle, breaking her grip on him and folded his arm around her neck, putting her in a headlock.

"That wasn't any martial art I'm familiar with." He said. Kelly's hands were pulling at the skin on his arm, vainly. After about five seconds, she whipped her head back, hitting Malcolm in the chin. His grip loosened, and she kicked him in the back of the knee, ducking out from under his arm. He dropped to the mat, and started to push himself up. She grabbed the arm he was using and pinned it against his chest.

"That's what I picked up from some bar fights." She said with a grin, letting his arm go. She rubbed her neck where his arm had been.

"Bar fights?" He asked. Kelly shrugged.

"Back at in San Diego Trip was a little hotheaded. Had to bail him out more than once." She said.

"You and Trip were in San Diego together?" He asked, picking up a sweatshirt and pulling it on.

She nodded. "Yeah. He was a year ahead of me, I think. Anyway he started hanging around because Jon wanted to make sure I was okay, but one day, we got to talking. We started hanging out more and just became friends I guess." Malcolm nodded, tossing her a water bottle. The steady hum of the warp engine suddenly subsides. The comm chirped.

"Archer to Lieutenant Reed." Jon's voice came over the speaker. Malcolm pressed the button to respond.

"Yes sir?" He replied. Kelly had noticed how formal Malcolm became when the Captain was around.

"We've identified a vessel in this system. It doesn't appear to be moving at all, and we didn't detect any bio signs."

"I'll take a shuttlepod over." Reed replied, and glanced up at Kelly.

"Captain, you mind if I join Lieutenant Reed?" She asked. There was a pause on the other end of the line.

"No, get down and meet Trip and Hoshi in launch bay two."

"Yes sir." Malcolm said.

Five minutes later the four of them were seated in the shuttle pod. Hoshi was looking a little nervous, and kept shifting in her EV suit. "Commander, are you sure that you couldn't just use the UT?" She asked. Trip shook his head.

"No way Hoshi. Besides, I thought you said you didn't mind the suits anymore." Hoshi made a face at him.

"It's not that I mind them, it's that the last time I went to a ship with no bio signs we found fifteen corpses hanging on hooks." She said, and Kelly thought she looked a little green. Reed turned around in his chair, as did Trip.

"Hoshi, there's nothing to be worried about. Malcolm and I'll go in first so you two pretty ladies don't have to be surprised by any corpses on hooks." He said. Kelly punched him on the arm, and he grinned at her.

"You've certainly got a way with words Trip." She said, picking her helmet up and attaching it securely to her suit. The others did the same. "Let's go." Malcolm handed her a phase pistol, which she put securely in the holster on her hip.

"Hey, don't I get one?" Trip asked, only halfway joking. Malcolm shot him a pointed look.

"You couldn't even hit the sphere twice Commander." He said. Trip shrugged, and looked over at Kelly.

"How many times did you hit it?" She shrugged, trying to ignore their bickering again. It was getting a little irritating. "Kell, come on." He said, Kelly rolled her eyes. He was even using her nickname now. Kell. The only people she had ever allowed to call her that were Trip and Jon. She hadn't even let her own parents call her that. Not that it mattered anyway, they'd left when she decided to join Starfleet. The decision that had made Jon so exuberant had made her own parents leave. It was partially because they had seen what it had done to her Uncle. Though his disease had almost nothing to do with Starfleet, she knew they still somewhere deep down blamed them for it. "Kell." She looked up to see Trip eyeing her curiously. "You all right?" She nodded, however stiffly, the suits didn't allow much room for head movement.

"Yeah. Just thinking."

"So how many targets did you hit?" He asked. Kelly sighed as she realizedthat he wasn't goin to leave her alone until she told him.

"In a ten secondor thirty second window?" She asked.

"Ten."

"Sixteen."She turned to see how Hoshi was doing, and was relieved to see that she looked a little less green.

"Does anyone else feel strange?" She asked. The other three looked over at her.

"Now do you mean weird in the claustrophobic sense, or-"

"Or the sense like you've got cobwebs in your brain." Kelly stated flatly, and they all turned their eyes on her.

"Archer to Lieutenant Reed."

"Reed here sir." Malcolm replied as he took a step into the ship, leaving the airlock ahead of the others. No one was talking, and the only thing Kelly could hear was her own breathing inside her helmet.

"Anything interesting going on over there?"

"Nothing to report sir."

"Keep me informed."

"The air should be safe to breathe." Kelly said as they walked past an open door. She grimaced, and put her hand on Trip's, which was starting to open his helmet. "Though I wouldn't recommend it." She pointed to the slabs of raw and rotting meat that were scattered around what appeared to be the galley.

"I'll bet that smells." Trip said, lowering his hand. Kelly looked back at her scanner. "Still no bio-" Malcolm didn't get to finish his sentence. Something knocked him over. It resembled a large turquoise bear, and was growling ferociously.

"Get to the ship!" He shouted. Trip started to move forward, but Kelly grabbed the back of his suit and pulled him back behind her, and turned around.

"Trip, go!" She shouted, pushing him toward a shrieking Hoshi. "Get her to the ship! Archer to the bridge!" She shouted.

"Go ahead!" She hear Jon say, sounding worried.

"There's something here!" She said. "It's got Malcolm!" She could hear him being dragged down the hallway.

"Kelly, get back to the pod."

"But-"

"Kelly, get-"

"Don't make that an order sir." She said, taking off after the creature and Malcolm.

"Cap'n, she's goin after 'im." She heard Trip inform her cousin.

"Kelly-"

"Come on Kell, get back here." That was Trip. She knew Jon would never call her Kell in front of the crew, especially not the bridge crew. She could hear Malcolm shouting down the hall, and kept going. She pulled her phase pistol out of her holster and raised it, aiming at the center of the creature's chest. Making sure it was on stun, she fired. The creature stumbled backward as though stung, though it seemed to have about the effect that a bee would have had. The small amount of pain had only made it angrier.

Malcolm had scrambled to his feet ad was limping down the corridor toward her. "Well, we may have found out what happened to the crew." He said. Kelly fired at the creature again, this time it was set to kill. It had about the same effect that the stun setting had. Malcolm drew even with Kelly as the creature brought it's massive arm down toward the back of his helmet. Kelly pushed him away, and the creature's claws ripped through her suit, biting deep into her forearm. She cried out, and Malcolm turned around, firing at the same time she did. The creature fell to the ground with an earsplitting roar. Holding her wounded arm close to her chest, she let Malcolm pull her down the corridor as it swam in front of her eyes. She tried to keep her legs working, but they folded as they reached the airlock. Trip grabbed her wounded arm at the shoulder, and together he and Malcolm pulled her into the pod. They shut the doors and headed back for the ship. As Trip piloted the shuttle, Malcolm and Hoshi pulled off her helmet. Kelly's vision was beginning to blur. She knew the familiar feeling of unconsciousness taking over her body. She could no longer feel the heavy bleeding limb. Her vision faded to black.


	3. Chapter 3

"Return fire!" Jon shouted as the ship rocked, throwing Kelly from her seat. She tried to stay upright, but failed miserably, ending up sprawled on the floor behind the tactical station.

"Malcolm, get up here!" Trip shouted through the comm. Seconds, later, Malcolm burst through the turbo lift doors, fighting for footing as the ship rocked again. As Trip helped her to her feet, she noticed that he looked a little haggard. He looked like he hadn't shaved in a couple of days, and his hair was sticking up at odd angles.

"Return fire!"

"They're targeting the warp core Captain!" Malcolm shouted. Time seemed to slow for Kelly.

"Second ship has dropped out of warp!" Malcolm shouted as a panel showed sparks down on himself, and Kelly who was clutching the back of his chair in an effort to stay upright. "Both ships are firing at the warp core!" An explosion suddenly rocked the ship, and Kelly could feel the deck ripple under her feet. Time slowed for her so much now that she could see the ball of fire ripping through the people around her. She suddenly felt incredibly helpless, with nothing to do but stand there and watch as first Jon, then Trip were swallowed by the flames. She felt her heart stop, and she opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out, for the fire had suddenly engulfed her as well. Funnily enough, it was only her arm that was screaming in pain. Everything else was just fine. She could suddenly hear voices.

"Phlox, what's going on!"

"I don't know Captain, now let me work!" She heard Trip say something, but she couldn't hear what he muttered. Something pressed into her neck, and her heart started again. Her lungs filled with air, and her eyes flew open. She could feel people's hands on her shoulders and legs, holding her down. Her body felt like it was on fire. Slowly things came into focus. Both Jon and Trip were holding her down. Her breathing was fast and shallow, but she felt like every nerve in her being was on fire.

"Doc!" Trip shouted as her mouth opened in a silent scream. Trip supposed that was worse than if she had been shouting. Though it would have been hard on the ears, he would have known she was breathing. Phlox rushed over with another hypo, and pressed it into her neck. Kelly suddenly stilled under his hands.

Phlox pushed him out of the way, none to gently. Kelly's breathing had slowed the second the contents of the hypo had flooded her system like cool water over a burn. She closed her eyes for a second, then looked over at her cousin.

"What -- happened?" She managed. Her body suddenly felt heavy again, but she was afraid to go back to sleep, for fear that she might see the ship exploding again. She felt Jon's hand on her arm.

"Just get some sleep Kell." He said quietly. So quietly, that she suspected there were more people than himself and Trip in the room. For a moment, she wondered why, but her mind fell asleep before she had a chance to object.

Trip looked up at Jon and shook his head. They had just left sick bay. Actually a more accurate term would be they had gotten kicked out of sick bay. Phlox had been running some test on Kelly, and Jon and himself had been getting in the way. Shaking his head again, he hurried after Jon.

"Cap'n, she's gonna be okay." He said. Jon looked over at him.

"We can't know that."

"Cap'n-" Jon seemed to ignore him as he pressed the button for the turbo lift. "Jon!" He turned around, and Trip could tell he was worried. "You need to get some sleep. You've been up for almost two days."

Jon set his jaw. "I'm not going to get any sleep until I know she's all right." He said, and got into the lift when it arrived seconds later. Trip rolled his eyes, and suddenly realized that he hadn't eaten all day. He turned around and headed to the mess hall. Malcolm and Hoshi were sitting at a table toward the windows. He grabbed the last piece of Pecan pie and walked over.

"You mind if I join you?" He asked. They both shook their heads.

"Commander, if you don't mind me saying, you look tired."

Trip nodded. He knew that was Malcolm's polite way of saying _You look like hell._

"How's Kelly doing?" Hoshi asked. Trip shook his head, and put down his fork. He didn't have much of an appetite at the moment. Malcolm eyed him worriedly. If Trip wasn't eating the pie, there was definitely something wrong with him.

"Phlox said she'll be fine, but I'm not so sure I believe him." He said. Malcolm and Hoshi glanced at each other. They knew that Phlox was reserved about telling the senior officers, especially the Captain how a patient was doing, knowing how they all tended to blame themselves, but he had never been known to lie to anyone. "You guys know what I mean. I've just got a feeling he's not telling us everything, and I can't say I blame him. The Cap'n's not lookin too good at the moment." Hoshi looked up at him.

"How so?"

Trip shrugged, picking up the fork again. "He hasn't slept in a couple of days, and I don't think he will until Kelly's conscious enough to have a conversation." He shook his head. "It's just like him, blaming himself for this. He couldn't have done anything. I was over there." He glanced up and saw that Malcolm was staring down into his steaming mug. "Aw, come on Malcolm, it wasn't your fault. She actually seemed to know where she was this time." Hoshi grimaced at Trip's words. In the week and a half since Kelly had been attacked, and she had been conscious for a few minutes at a time. The first time she had gone with Malcolm to see her. Trip had been sitting next to her bed, and had been asleep in the chair. It hadn't looked like it was incredibly comfortable. A suddenly gasping noise had startled him awake.

"_What the hell is goin on?" Trip asked, suddenly wide awake. Kelly's body was arching off the bed, her mouth opening and closing as though she was a fish out of water. She about thrashed herself off the bed when Trip and Malcolm grabbed her arms, pinning them to the table, and though it may have kept her from rolling off the table, she kept writing under their grip, a look of excruciating pain on her face. Her gray eyes suddenly flew open and looked around wildly. Phlox pressed a hypo spray to her neck, and she slowly stopped writhing. Hoshi noticed that Malcolm's hands were shaking slightly as he stepped back from the bed. Trip looked pale as he looked at Kelly's once again unconscious form. _

"_Commander, may I suggest you inform the Captain?" Phlox said, his normal cheery tone flat, and frankly a little worried. Malcolm was the first to move._

"_Commander, if I may be the one to speak with the Captain. . ." He trailed off as Trip nodded numbly. Hoshi put a hand on Trip's shoulder. _

"_I'll let you know if there's any change." She said. Trip nodded._

"_I'll be in engineering if you need me." Trip said. _

"_Commander, I must request that you get some sleep." Phlox said. Trip shook his head._

"_Nothin short of knocking me out is goin to be able to make me sleep right now." He said, and left before Phlox could say anything else. _

"Commander?" Trip jumped at the sound of Malcolm's voice. He shook his head as though to clear it.

"I don't think the Captain's the only one who needs to get some sleep." Hoshi said. Trip shook his head.

"I don't think I can sleep." He said, shaking his head. "Not after seein her like that." He paused a moment, and bit his lip. Hoshi and Malcolm glanced at each other again. Trip had apparently forgotten that either of them were there. "I thought having to see her like that was goin to be a thing of the past." He muttered, letting his head drop into his hands. Hoshi put a hand on his arm.

"Why don't we go get you a sedative from Doctor Phlox Commander, I'm sure you'll be able to sleep then."

Malcolm frowned as he looked at the screen. Something had been pulling at him in the back of his mind for a while, one of those annoying pulls that was there at the back of his mind. He shook his head, and tried to turn his thoughts to other things, but found himself unable to. The chirp of his door chime interrupted his flood of thoughts, and it felt rather like someone had turned off a faucet.

"Come in!" He called, and looked up to see Commander Tucker standing in the doorway, looking uneasy. "Commander, is there something I can-" He saw that Trip still looked pale, and trailed off. "Have a seat." He said, and Trip stepped in.

"Sorry to barge in on you like this Malcolm, but I don't think I can sleep." Reed shook his head.

"Nor I." He said. Trip sat down in the chair at Malcolm's desk and once again put his head in his hands.

"I should've been able to do somethin." Malcolm suddenly felt uncomfortable. When people confided in him, it made him more than a little uneasy.

"Commander, wouldn't you feel more comfortable talking about this with someone, say the-"

"Stop calling me commander." Trip said. He was still staring intently at the floor. "And the Captain doesn't want to be reminded of what could have happened to her." Malcolm raised an eyebrow at him, but stayed quiet for a minute.

"If you don't mind me asking, reminded of what?" He asked. Trip grimaced.

"Look, if I tell you, you have to promise you'll never repeat this. **Ever**." Malcolm nodded, still unsure what this was about. Trip nodded, and began to recount the events.

_Lieutenant Trip Tucker walked down the hall, a grin on his face. He had just had a horrible date. Usually that would have been cause for deep despair, and good couple hours worth of moping, but he had been the reason things had gone wrong. Him and his own heart's damn ironic timing. He had been talking with the young lady he was on the date with, and found himself comparing everything she said and did with someone else he knew. Kelly, his best friend's cousin. He knew Jon would kill him, but at that moment, he didn't care. That idiot Talbot should have had her back by now, and he was on his way to her room to tell her everything, how he felt. As his hand reached for the chime, he heard a sound from inside, a muffled shout. _

"_Get the fuck off me!" It was a feminine voice. _Kelly_. Trip hit the door chime, but no one answered. His heart began to pound. He tried the button that was supposed to open the door, but nothing happened. He heard a crash from inside the room, and more shouting. He hit the button for the door again, then input the override code Kelly had given him a few weeks ago. Still nothing happened. He heard another crash and shouting._

"_Don't think you can get away from me that easily you bitch!" Trip could clearly hear Alex Talbot's voice through the door. Panicking as he heard another shout from inside the room, he pulled of the panel, and quickly unlocked the door. It opened about an inch, but that was enough to see Talbot advancing on a shadowy figure, lying still on the floor on the other side of the room. He grabbed the edge of the door and pulled it open faster than he had anticipated. _

"_Get away from her!" He said, and Talbot looked up at him, a shocked look on his face. His eyes flickered to Trip's balled fists, and the look of pure rage on his face. Trip's eyes shifted down to Kelly's form, still and crumpled on the floor. He had no idea if she was even still alive, he could only pray that she still was. Because if he didn't feel bad enough, Jon was going to kill him. _

_Though Kelly's cousin was far ahead of him on the command ladder, Trip knew him vaguely, and they got on well enough. When Jon had asked him to keep an eye on Kelly, he thought it was going to be boring, following some air-headed chic around, but they had started talking, and he found out she knew a lot about engineering, and they had spent hours upon hours talking about it. _

_Talbot's suddenly movement brought him back to the present. Jon was most definitely going to kill him. If Talbot didn't do it first. Kelly moaned softly as Trip grabbed Talbot by the shoulder and threw him out her door into the all. He slammed into the wall on the other side of the hall. _

_Talbot lunged at him, trying to get back inside Kelly's room. Trip could hear people shouting down the hall, but he didn't care. The only thing that seemed to matter to him right now was beating Talbot's face into the floor. Hands were suddenly pulling him off of Talbot, and he could see two security picking a badly bruised Talbot up off the floor. Trip wrenched himself free of those hands and lunged at Talbot again. Those hands were suddenly doubled, and he was pinned against the wall. The only thing he could do now was shout at Talbot._

"_You damn bastard!" He shouted, and noticed the security officer nearest his head flinch and cover her ear was one hand. "She wouldn't give it up, so you just decided to take it!" A crowd was gathering in the hall, staring at the usually mild-mannered engineering student. Commodore Forrest suddenly was standing on the edge of the crowd, looking from one cadet to the other. _

"_Everyone, back to your rooms. That's an order. Now!" The crowd immediately dispersed. "Someone mind explaining what's going on here?" He asked. Trip suddenly relaxed, surprising those holding him enough he was able to pull away. _

"_That bastard attacked her!" He said, ducking into Kelly's room, and dropping beside her. He put a hand on her shoulder. Her gray eyes fluttered open a fraction and she shuddered. Commodore Forrest was standing in the doorway, staring in horror at Kelly. _

"_Is -- Is he gone Trip?" She asked thinly, as though it hurt to speak. Trip nodded, and reached down to take her hand. _

"_He's gone. Kell." He said. "He's not going to come near you again. Ever. I swear." She grimaced and smiled at the same time, and Trip felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest. _

_A few hours later Jon ran into the hospital waiting room, looking incredibly pale. _

"_Kelly Archer." He said to the receptionist. She looked up at him blandly. _

"_Are you family?" She asked. Jon nodded, and saw Trip walking numbly down the hall. _

"_Yes, I'm her cousin!" He said. "Trip!" Trip looked up at his friend, his normally dancing blue eyes dull. "Trip, what happened?" Trip shook his head, muttering something under his breath. _

"_Should've been there. . . Stupid bastard." He said, and continued to go on. Jon grabbed his shoulders. _

"_Trip!" Trip seemed to realized Jon was there for the first time. He shook his head._

"_I should've been there damn it!" He said. _

_Jon stared at him. "Trip, what happened?" He asked. "Nobody's telling me what happened to her!" Trip swallowed, suddenly looking like he might throw up. Jon searched his face for some indication as to what happened, but he couldn't find any. He only knew it had been very bad. "Trip, what happened to Kelly?" The use of her name seemed to snap Trip back to reality._

"_The damn bastard Talbot attacked her." He finally managed. Jon froze in place. "She's in surgery."_

"_What do you mean, attacked her? He tried to kill her?" Trip shook his head. _

"_No sir." The color was gone from Jon's face, leaving his skin a grayish color. _

"_You said 'tried.' He didn't-"_

_Trip shook his head vigorously. "No. Bashed his head into the wall."_

"_Took six officers to pull him off the bastard." Forrest said, coming up behind them. The receptionist stood up and walked over to the three of them. "That was off the record gentlemen."_

"_Miss Archer just got out of surgery." She said. "The Doctor said you may see her. If you'll follow me." She led the two anxious men down the hall, and they were followed by Forrest. _

Trip shook his head. "She had three broken ribs, two bruised ones. One of the broken ones came dangerously close to puncturing her lung. She had some internal bleeding, and a bruised kidney. She suffered some head trauma too, but she was never quite the same after that." He said. Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

"How do you mean?"

Trip shook his head. "She was so damn talkative, and chipper. Almost like Travis. More even, but after that, she just stopped talking to everyone. Shut herself in her room for a week after she got out of the hospital. After that her mentality was a hell of a lot like yours. Work, duty sleep. God." She shook his head. "And just when she was starting to pull out of it, Jon and I got assigned here." He shook his head. "Cap'n got so wrapped up in all things Enterprise, he forgot to call her for nearly a year. She should've been at least Commander if not Captain by now, but she just didn't seem to care." He looked up at Malcolm suddenly. "You tell anyone about this and I'll beat you to a pulp, then Kelly will kill you. She had the incident wiped from our records. Even the medical files are gone." Malcolm nodded, still a little stunned.

"I'm just finding it hard to believe that she could ever be that helpless." He said. Trip shook his head.

"It was right after that that she decided to take some self defense classes. She kept thinking about what could have happened to her if I hadn't decided to go over there. I should have left sooner."

"Comman - Trip, I'm sure she doesn't blame you for what happened." Trip shook his head as he got to his feet and began pacing the length of Malcolm's quarters.

"See the thing is Mal, I still feel the same way about her." He said, and looked over at the Lieutenant, who had suddenly become very quiet. Not that he wasn't before, but he wasn't watching Trip, as he had been as he had recounted the tale. "Oh crap." He said. Malcolm looked up at him, a question on his face that he didn't voice. Trip opened his mouth to say something, but didn't get to finish, as the comm chirped.

"Doctor Phlox to Lieutenant Reed." He said. Reed pressed the button to reply.

"Yes?"

"Lieutenant Archer has left sick bay." Both men froze at the statement.

"What?" Malcolm asked, the first to recover.

"Miss Archer woke up while I was in the middle of some tests. I had to remove her restraints. She woke and left."

"And you didn't try to stop her?" He asked.

"The Lieutenant is stronger than she appears." Phlox replied. "Now will you stop questioning me, and find her? She may not know what's going on, and in her dazed state, she will most likely remeber nothing at all." Trip looked over at Malcolm.

The two of them rushed out into the corridor. They split, running in opposite directions. Malcolm somehow found his way to the armory. He stuck his head inside, then vanished again, leaving several people looking very confused and stunned. He turned and took off at a run down the corridor, trying as fast as he could to get to sick bay. He passed a turbo lift as the doors opened, revealing a very tired-looking Captain.

"Woah, Malcolm, what's the hurry?" He asked. Malcolm skidded to a stop.

"Lieutenant Archer left sick bay sir." He said. Jon's face paled. "Phlox said she probably doesn't know where she is." He took off again, not caring about the Captain's incredulous look. He ran into sick bay where Phlox was waiting with a hypo.

"Mr. Reed, wait a moment. This is the antitoxin to what was in the creature's claws. Be careful with it, I was only able to synthesize enough for one dose. Be careful where you use it too, it has to go directly into her bloodstream." Malcolm snatched the hypo and was about to leave when the comm beeped. "Trip to Malcolm!"

"Go ahead Commander!" Malcolm said, slamming his finger down on the button.

"I found her Mal! She's in cargo hold three, and she's-" Malcolm had heard enough. He streaked out of Sick Bay and made for cargo bay three.

When he got there, he found a strange sight. Kelly was in the corner of the room, a wild and terrified look on her face, like a cornered rabbit. Malcolm felt his heart skip a beat as she looked up at him. They locked eyes for a moment, then he heard Trip talking.

"Kelly, it's me, Trip." She and Malcolm continued to stare at each other. She suddenly jumped to her feet, backing away from Trip. He swallowed, and glanced over at Malcolm. "What's that?" He mouthed.

"Antidote from Phlox." Malcolm said quietly, sliding it across the floor to Trip, and standing in front of the door, so Kelly wouldn't be able to get out without having to go past him. She was watching him again, and he saw something in her eyes. Trip began inching closer to her.

"Kelly, look at me." He said. Those large gray eyes snapped back to Trip's face, her face was suddenly hard and frightened again. Trip took a couple steps backward so he was even with Malcolm. He pressed the hypo into his hand. "Think you're a bit more calming." He said, and gave Malcolm a small nudge forward. Malcolm locked eyes with Kelly, and started inching forward. The door to the cargo bay opened, and Jon ran straight into Trip, who grabbed his arm. Kelly jumped up, and ran to the far side of the bay. Trip cursed under his breath.

"K-" Trip clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Cap'n-" Jon pushed Trip off of him. "Jon!" The Captain turned around. "She doesn't know where she is." Trip could clearly see the mix of pain,fearand determination on the Captain's face. He had seen that look before. When the first test of his father's engine failed. It was that exact same look that was now on his face. "Jon, just hold on. Malcolm seems to make her a little calmer." Jon nodded, watching as Malcolm slowly got closer and closer to Kelly. He slowly extended his hand to her when he was a few feet away.

"Kelly." He said. Her gray eyes flickered from his hand to his face, then his hand again. After a moment, she lunged off the wall, and fell against him. He froze for a moment, stunned, and looked to Trip and Jon for help. Trip curled his hand into a fist and was fiercely jamming the side of into his neck, and Malcolm suddenly remember the hypo in his hand. He pressed it against Kelly's neck, and she slumped against him. As he picked her up, Jon ran over, and took her from him, heading back to sick bay.

Kelly opened her eyes to see the dim light of sick bay. She sat up, though she felt no pain in her arm. She looked down at it, and saw that it was almost completely healed. Wondering how that had happened, she sat up. Phlox poked his head through the privacy curtain.

"Ah. Hold on a moment." He vanished again, and Kelly's head swam. She could remember brief periods of intense pain, but nothing else. The doctor returned with a scanner, and was silent.

"Doctor Phlox-" She began, but he cut her off.

"Well, the toxin appears to have been completely removed from your system." He said, and gave her a small smile. "The creature that attacked yourself and Lieutenant Reed had a dangerous toxin in it's claws, which was released into your system. It caused you intense periods of pain when you were conscious." Kelly nodded. She could understand that, because she remembered it. She noticed a large purple bruise on the side of his face.

"What happened?" She asked. He gave her a small smile.

"Apparently you are stronger than you look Lieutenant." He said. "Wait here for just a moment." He disappeared, reappearing a moment later with Jon at his shoulder. Kelly could see the tired look on Jon's face, and the wave of relief that washed over it as he realized she was lucid.

"How're you feeling?" He asked. Trip's head appeared over his shoulder.

"Been worried about you." He said. Kelly gave him a weak grin. "Gave us quite a scare." He added. Kelly gave them both a smile.

"How long was I out?" She asked. Their faces darkened a little.

"All together or do you want us to count the hours between your little minutes of consciousness?" Trip joked, though he sounded more tired than he usually did. Kelly grimaced. She could remember those short but painful returns to reality. She shuddered. Trip and Jon glanced at each other. They along with Malcolm had decided to keep what had happened in the cargo bay to themselves. They knew it would only make Kelly uncomfortable.

"All together." Kelly said. She almost called Trip and really nasty name, but then remembered that he was in fact her commanding officer, and Jon was standing right there. Trip cleared his throat, and glanced at Phlox.

"Captain, there was a question I want to ask you. . ." He said, leading Jon away from Kelly and Trip. Trip looked like he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure how. Kelly rolled her eyes. She had seen this look before. It had been when she had woken up after Talbot attacked her.

"Trip, whatever it is, just say it." She said. He chewed on his lip and stared to pace the length of the curtained off section, which was only about a meter and a half wide. "Trip-"

"See the thing is I don't think I can Kell." He said suddenly, looking up at her. "I've got to go." He said suddenly looking pale. He turned and walked out very quickly. Kelly saw him push past a very surprised Malcolm, and vanish down the corridor as the doors to Sick Bay closed. She caught Malcolm's eye as the curtain closed, and found an odd expression on his face. She shook her head as Phlox came back in.

"The Captain has requested that you be released from Sick Bay, and since I can find no medical reason for you to stay here, you're free to go." He said. Kelly nodded.

"Thanks Doc." She said, taking her boots from him, and pulling them on. She pulled back the curtain stiffly to see Jon and Malcolm talking in low voices.

"We agreed not to Lieutenant." Jon said shortly. "I'll make that an order if I have to." Malcolm nodded stiffly, and looked up as she came over.

"Glad you're feeling better." He said, then left at a hurried pace. Kelly shook her head.

"Did something happen that I don't know about?" She asked. Jon shook his head.

"Nothing you need to worry about." He said.

They were both silent until they reached her quarters. "By the way, I called Harrison the other day, to let him know what happened." He said as she opened her door. Kelly's face drained of color and she spun around to face him.

"Why'd you do that?" She sputtered, looking like she'd just seen a ghost. Jon looked confused.

"Kelly, in your last letter, you told me you were-"

"We were Jon, and it's frankly none of your business!"


	4. Chapter 4

"We were Jon, and it's frankly none of your business!" The door hissed shut slower than she would have liked. What she really wanted was to hit something. She punched her pillow, but that didn't help. She could feel the anger building up inside her, and knew she had to do something, or she was going to explode. Phlox had reminded her she needed sleep, but she couldn't sleep now. Not that Jon had brought up Harrison. As she changed into a tight black tank top and black shorts. She headed down to the gym to find Ensign Sato on one of the treadmills. Kelly chose one at the other end of the row, and inserted a data disc into the port, and closed her eyes as the heavy metal music blasted into her ears. She climbed up on the treadmill and began to run as fast as she could. After a few moments, she backed the speed down a little and continued to run, though her eyes were still closed. When her long legs began to ache, she pulled the earphones off and backed the speed down until she was walking. Glancing at the time, she sighed. She was supposed to be on duty in a little over five hours, she'd been running for nearly four hours. Shaking her head, she turned the machine off and looked around. Hoshi was gone, and a suddenly crash sounded behind her. She whipped around to see Malcolm standing in front of a bunch of scattered weights and grimacing. She sighed, and walked over to help him.

"You can run all you want." He said. "But I don't think you'll ever outrun it." He said, Kelly's head jerked up so she was looking at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked fiercely.

"Whatever was bothering you. Running isn't going to help." Kelly grabbed up the last weight and placed it back on the stack with the others.

"It makes me feel a hell of a lot better." She said, snatching the data chip out of the treadmill. She paused, suddenly getting the feeling that if anyone could understand, it would be Malcolm. She looked up at him. "Have you ever been so sure something would work with someone, and it all fell apart?" She asked. Malcolm nodded, looking a little confused.

"You want to talk about it?" He asked. Kelly suddenly decided she had to, or her head was going to explode. She sat down heavily on the edge of the treadmill and drew her knees up to her chest.

"He called him. I can't believe he called him." She muttered. Malcolm hovered near her, trying to decide if he should try to comfort her or just listen. He compromised for sitting down next to her and listening.

"Who called who?" He asked. Kelly let her head fall so her forehead was resting on her knees.

"Jon. He called Harrison while I was out." She said. She could feel Malcolm's confusion, and was glad when he didn't say anything. "Harrison was my fiancee." She said suddenly, unsure of why she had just told Malcolm that. "We were supposed to get married next week, but when Jon came back and asked me to come along with him, Harrison told me that he wasn't going to let me." She shook her head. "No offense, but men can be real bastards sometimes." She said.

"None taken."

"Then I told him I had already agreed to serve on Enterprise, and he got really mad. We got into this big fight, and I haven't talked to him since." She shook her head. "I have no idea what they said to each other, but from the look on Jon's face, it couldn't have been good." She took a few deep breaths, blinking back the burning sensation in her suddenly dry eyes. She shook her head again and looked over at Malcolm. She had figured that he would have objected to her confiding in her, she had figured him for the standoffish, silent type. She had seen the way he interacted with the crew, even if it had only been for the little while she had been conscious on board. He was formal with everyone, including Trip, who seemed to be his closest friend. They had served together for a couple years, and he was still calling him Commander. She sighed and looked at the clock on the wall.

"Damn. I'd better get some sleep." She said, and looked over at Malcolm. "Thanks." He nodded sleepily, stifling a yawn. She picked up her data disc and left the gym.

Kelly sat down heavily at her desk, her stomach filled with apprehension at what she was about to do. It had been two weeks since her talk with Malcolm in the gym, and after a few more workouts, which consisted of her running herself to exhaustion for a few hours, Malcolm's worried gaze on her while he was there, she had made a decision. She had asked Hoshi to link her with Harrison that evening, and not tell Jon if she could avoid it. She and Hoshi had actually been getting on really well. Her hands were shaking as she pressed the button that would connect her with her ex-fiancee.

Harrison's face filled her screen. His expression darkened when he saw her. "Heard you didn't tell your cousin about us breaking up." He said. Kelly felt her stomach churn, and her eyes were burning.

"Are we really broken up?" She asked. "Because we didn't really say anything about that after you told me to get the hell out of your life." She could feel the pain she'd been trying to bury rise to the surface.

"Kelly, I think getting married is a little out of the question, considering that you're not even on the same damn planet anymore." His voice was calm. Too clam for Kelly to understand. She was still hurting from leaving a relationship that had lasted over two years. Suddenly someone moved in the background.

"Honey, aren't you coming to bed?" A voice asked. Kelly could literally feel the blood drain from her face, leaving it feeling cold. Harrison looked uneasy.

"Be right there!" He called back, then turned once again to the screen. Kelly could feel her hands shaking. "Kell, it's not-"

"I've got to go." She said, and fumbled with the keys, effectively hanging up on him. She stood, suddenly feeling like she wasn't getting enough air. Her comm chirped. She pressed the button.

"Yes?"

"I've got an incomming message for you Lieutenant." Hoshi's replacement on the bridge said. Kelly's stomach twisted. "It's marked urgent."

"From who?" She asked. There was a pause while the crewman checked.

"A Harrison Foreman. Shall I put him through?"

"No." Came the flat reply. "Thank you crewman." She sat down on her bed, then stood up again, pacing. The room suddenly felt too small. She had to get out of her room.

Malcolm was staring at his data pad blankly. He just couldn't get his mind to focus. The unprofessional part of him kept slipping back to the dream he'd had last night. He wrenched his mind back to his work, but it slipped away from him again, and he couldn't seem to bring himself back.

_She stood there looking beautiful in her long dress. It hugged her body and the silver and black sequins sparkled as she moved, turning to look at him. He could feel himself smiling as her thin lips curved up in one of her small smiles. Her smile always seemed to be hiding something, a pain that wouldn't go away. Her gray eyes were the same way, but the pain was there just the same. His body seemed to root itself to the spot as she walked toward him, her heels clicking on the plating of the mess hall floor. It suddenly occurred to him where they were. Why was she wearing a dress in the middle of the mess hall? As she got closer, the thought went straight out of his head, along with every other coherent thought in his head. She reached out a hand and touched his shoulder. Something akin to an electric shock ran through his body as she pulled herself toward him. Her slim hand curled around his neck, and pulled his mouth to hers. He could feel something stir deep in his chest, something he hadn't felt for a long time._

The doors to the mess hall opened and she walked in. Malcolm was snapped out of his trance, and brought crashing back to reality. Shaking his head, he tried to push the dream out of his head, finding it easier now that she was actually in the room. What made it harder was the fact that she looked so pale and scared. She got a cup of something steaming and turned to leave again, when she spotted Malcolm. He must have looked worried because she made an obviously painful attempt at a smile as she vanished through the quietly hissing doors.

Kelly's hands shook violently as she set the cup down in her quarters. She clasped them in her lap, but that just made her entire arm tremble. She got up and started pacing, trying to blink back the tears that threatened to fall. Her door chime chirped, but she ignored it, continuing to pace. It chirped again, and Kelly silently cursed, wondering if Hoshi had decided to tell Jon. She pressed the button and the door slid open to reveal Trip, frantically inputting data on a pad.

"Kell, I wanted to run some of these equations for the warp core past-" He looked up at her and froze. She looked like she'd seen a ghost. "Kell?" He asked. "What's-"

"Trip, run those past me tomorrow, okay?" She said, and the door closed, leaving Trip standing in front of her door, completely bewildered. He stood there another moment, trying to decide what to do. Over the past few weeks, working with her, he had found that he did still lover her, but not in the same way. He thought of her like a sister, and she reminded him a lot of Lizzie, except that he had never seen Lizzie look like that. He hesitated for a moment, then decided that in her current mood, she was more likely to knock him out than talk about whatever happened. Biting his lip, he made up his mind and turned, jogging off down the hall. He stopped in front of the Captain's quarters, pausing a moment before he hit the chime.

"Come in!" He heard the Captain say. He was sitting on his bed, throwing a ball against the wall. He paused when he saw Trip. "Something wrong?" He asked. Trip sighed as he stepped inside, letting the door close behind him.

"Cap'n, is something goin on with Kelly?" He asked. Jon shook his head, shrugging as he tossed Porthos a cube of cheese.

"Not that I know of, why?" Trip hesitated for a moment.

"Because I just stopped by her quarters to ask her about something," He waved the data pad vaguely, "And she looked really upset, and all pale. She told me to ask her tomorrow and shut the door in my face." Jon paused, a cube of cheese in his hand halfway to the dog. Porthos jumped up and nipped it from his fingers.

"Trip, you remember Harrison?" He asked. Trip nodded.

"That guy Kelly was seeing when we left? Yeah, why?" He asked. Jon shook his head.

"They were going to get married a couple of weeks ago, but they broke it off."

Trip stared at Jon, his brain attempting futilely to process this information. "Why?" He finally managed. Jon shook his head, patting his whining dog on the head.

"Because I asked her to come aboard. Harrison didn't want her to go, so he-" The door chimed, and Jon stood up, dumping Porthos to the ground. "Come in!" The door slid open to reveal Hoshi, who looked a little unnerved.

"Captain, Lieutenant Archer asked me not to tell you about this, but I thought it might be important." She said. Jon and Trip looked at each other, then at Hoshi.

"Go ahead Hoshi." Jon said. Hoshi nodded nervously.

"Well, earlier this evening, she called someone."

Trip eyed her. "Is this 'someone' named Harrison Foreman?" He asked. Hoshi nodded slowly with slightly narrowed eyed.

"Thank you Hoshi." Jon said, and sat down heavily on his bed.

"Cap'n, should we-"

"No." Jon said. "I think we've done enough to screw up her life."

"Cap'n-"

"Dismissed Commander." Trip threw up his arms in surrender, and left. He knew Jon was feeling guilty, and there was nothing he could do about it, except wait. He shook his head. His two best friends were both probably sitting in their respective quarters, beating themselves up for not being strong enough.

The chime sounded, and Kelly began to grow annoyed. Trip had left a little under five minutes ago. She knew he'd be back. She pressed the button on the door, and opened her mouth to give Trip an earful, but instead found Malcolm standing in the hall. She froze, then remembered to close her mouth.

"Malcolm, why are -- what are you doing here?" She asked almost incredulously.

"I thought you looked a little off in the mess hall, I thought I'd see if you were all right." Kelly shook her head. Malcolm had not ceased to surprise her. She had been helping him with upgrades in the armory, and they had had more meaningful talks over the past two weeks than she and Trip had had since she come on board. She had begun to enjoy his company, and they were known to eat together in the mess hall frequently, (much to the dismay of some of the other female crew members).

"I'm-" She'd started to use his usual 'I'm fine,' phrase but she couldn't get the last word out. Stepping back, she let him in, and sat down on her bed and put her hand into her hands. "I'm not fine." She said, and felt Malcolm sit down next to her. "I called Harrison tonight." She said. "It's only been two weeks since we were supposed to get married, but she was there."

"Who was where?" Malcolm asked.

"I don't know. Some girl, and she wasn't wearing all that much." Malcolm grimaced as he ground his teeth. He had a sudden and nearly uncontrollable urge to find out who this Harrison guy was and beat the living daylights out of him, but all he did was put a hand gently on her shoulder.

Kelly jumped at the hand placed on her shoulder and suddenly couldn't take it anymore. The tears just came, and she was helpless to stop them. She just slumped to the side, her head on Malcolm's chest. This took him so completely by surprise, he almost fell over, and would have, had his shoulder not hit the post of her bed. He sat there for a moment, looking down at Kelly's dark head, unsure of what to do. He knew he couldn't get up and leave. He knew she would look at him, and he'd stutter out a flimsy excuse, and she'd know how he felt. He couldn't do that, so he just put an arm around her and let her cry.

After a while her sobs subsided, and Malcolm was surprised to find that her breathing was deep. She was asleep. Moving slowly, he moved her so her head was on the pillow, and pulled a blanket up over her, then slipped out of her quarters quietly, thankful for the late hour. If anyone saw him coming out of her quarters at this hour, he would be dead. Not only afraid of the loss of rank, he was certain that both the Captain and Trip would kill him.

When Kelly's alarm sounded the next morning, she sat bolt upright in bed, her eyes wide. The last thing she remembered was crying. Malcolm was there. Oh god, she had cried in front of Malcolm. What would he think of her now? She shook her head. No, couldn't think about that. She reminded herself as she turned on the water for the shower, stripping off her uniform. She had fallen asleep in it last night. Oh god, she had fallen asleep on Malcolm! She let the hot water run over her body longer than she intended, and was late for her shift. Jon and Tip looked up as she arrived on the bridge. Trip thought she still looked a little pale, but otherwise fine.

"Lieutenant, can I see you for a moment?" Jon asked. Kelly nodded and followed him into his ready room. He sat down in his chair and eyed her. She shifted under his gaze. "I know you talked with Harrison last night." He said. "Why?"

Kelly bit her lip. "I've been thinking about it for the past couple weeks, and I decided I needed some closure."

"Trip said you looked pretty upset." He said. Kelly nodded.

"I was, but I'm over it."

"Mind telling me what happened?" He asked. Kelly swallowed.

"I'd rather not, if it's all right." She said. Jon nodded, apparently satisfied.

"Okay then." He said, trying to sound relieved, but he knew there was something more than Harrison bothering her. "Anything else you want to talk about?" He asked. Kelly debated asking him what to do about Malcolm, but suddenly decided that would be a huge mistake.

"No."

"Good. Lieutenant Reed has some more upgrades to work on. He's down in the armory. Why don't you help him with that?" He asked. Kelly hesitated. "Or you could help Trip in-"

"I'll be in the armory." She said. SHe wanted to see Trip even less than Malcolm at the moment. She knew he'd have a bunch of questions for her, and she didn't think she could take it.Jon nodded, and Kelly fled the room, striding quickly across the bridge to the turbo lift. Hoshi got up from her station.

"Lieutenant, I-"

Kelly smiled at the young Ensign. "I know you told the Captain Hoshi." She said, and the girl suddenly relaxed. "I'm kind of glad you did, in a way. Thanks though." Hoshi looked thoroughly confused as the doors closed.

As Kelly walked into the armory, she looked around for Malcolm, but couldn't find him. There were several other personnel in the bay, so she decided just to look around for him. A young Ensign came up behind her.

"Lieutenant Reed is over there Lieutenant." She said, pointing to a bank of photon torpedoes. Kelly gave her a smile when she saw Malcolm was standing by a table covered with pieces of a particle weapon. She walked over to him so quietly he didn't even hear her.

"The Captain asked me to help you with the upgrades." She said, causing Malcolm to nearly jump out of his skin. He ended up scattering half the contents of the table. Cursing under his breath he bent to pick them up.

"Havin a clumsy day Malcolm?" Trip laughed, coming up behind Kelly. Malcolm felt his face burn, as he hit his head on the bottom of the table. He cursed again and stood up, rubbing is head and depositing the pieces of the phase pistol on the table.

"Was there something you wanted Commander?" He asked. Grimacing.

"Yeah, but I plum forgot what it was. I'll probably remember when I get back to engineering, but I'll call you." He said. He put a hand on Kelly arm.

"You okay?" He asked. Kelly gave him a small smile and nodded.

"Trip, I'm fine." She said. He nodded.

"All right then, but if you need to talk about it-"

"Thanks Trip, but I kind of talked to someone about it already." She said. He nodded.

"Just so you know." He said, and strode away. She looked over at Malcolm, who was still rubbing his head.

"You all right?" She asked. He nodded, but didn't say anything. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air. "Malcolm, I think we should-"

"There's a component missing, but I can quite seem to figure out what it is." He said. "Something small, and. . ." He trailed off. "It's throwing the particle stream off." Kelly sighed and started piecing the pistol back together as Malcolm watched. She was halfway through it when she suddenly set it down and walked over to a supply drawer, pulling out something small that looked like a spring. She inserted it, then finished putting it back together. Handing it to him, she sighed.

"I'm going to see if Trip needs help in engineering." She said, and left.

Malcolm watched her leave, then down at the phase pistol she had just put back together in under two minutes. It would have taken him probably at least another five. He knew she was going to say they needed to talk, but he was afraid if they did he'd end up telling her how he felt. He almost had last night, but he knew that if anything had happened, he would have wondered if it had been because of her ex-fiancee. Wait, what was he thinking? Nothing could happen with Kelly. Nothing. Trip and the Captain would have his head removed from his body and both dragged behind the ship. He grimaced at the thought.

"Lieutenant?" He sighed and looked up at the Ensign to see what the newest problem was.

Kelly's stomach churned as the ship rocked. She turned and ran to the nearest comm panel.

"Lieutenant Archer to the bridge!" She shouted over the commotion that had suddenly erupted in the corridor. "What's going on?" There was no response. "Bridge, respond!"

"Captain Archer and Commander T'Pol are unconscious sir!" She heard the tremor in Hoshi's voice. "They were just taken to sick bay!"

"The ship is coming around for another attack!" She heard someone shout. Her feet carried her to the turbo lift, then to the bridge. Commander Tucker hadn't arrived yet, and she assumed Reed was on his way up here as they spoke.

"Return fire!" She said. She knew this would happen. She had switched into command mode. The Ensign at tactical hesitated for a second. "Ensign!" The ship rocked, and the panel above tactical exploded. The young officer was thrown from his chair, burns on his face. "Sato! Get a medical team up here!" Kelly dove for the tactical station, and managed to keep herself in the seat long enough to return fire. The panel that had exploded burst into flames. She was hurled from the chair, and landed hard on the deck as the lift doors opened.

"We've got a warp core breach!" Kelly couldn't tell where Trip's voice was coming from. He wasn't on the bridge. Malcolm was suddenly next to her, lifting the top half of her body off the cold plating.

"Kelly!" He said. She could feel herself fading. "Stay with me!"

"The core's gonna-" Kelly blacked out, and her world faded to black.

"Warp core is breaching!" Malcolm heard Trip's words ringing in his ears, but couldn't bring himself away from Kelly. Her gray eyes were wide, and suddenly closed. "Kelly, stay with me!"

"The core's gonna blow!" He heard Trip shout. Malcolm suddenly realized he was in command. Carefully he lay Kelly back down and ran to tactical. The entire ship went dark. Nothing was on, not even auxiliary power all over the ship. This would give Trip about ten seconds to fix the problem before auxiliary power came back online. He counted to ten, praying it would work. Main power was restored, and the annoying blare of the alarms were gone. Malcolm powered up the phase cannons, but the ship that had attacked them was gone. He looked up at Kelly to find Phlox and a few of his personnel were loading Kelly onto a stretcher. He felt his heart twist, but reminded himself he couldn't get emotionally involved. With Commander Tucker off the bridge, he was in charge. He couldn't afford to make mistakes, not when that could mean the lives of the crew.

Pain.

Pain was good.

Pain meant she was alive.

"Lieutenant, she's moving again!" Strong hands pressed into her shoulders, trying to keep her pinned down. Her eyes flew open, and as she squirmed under the hands, pain screamed through her leg. Her breath left her, and something cold pressed against her neck. Cold, blissful relief flooded through her body, and she opened her eyes. Phlox was standing next to her holding an empty hypo spray, and Malcolm's hands were still on her shoulders. He didn't say anything as he stepped back, suddenly looking uncomfortable.

"Lieutenant Reed, the Captain wishes to see you." Malcolm nodded, and headed deeper into sick bay, instead of towards the door.

"Jon, is he-?" SHe started to sit up, butPhlox pushed her back down.

"Lieutenant, he is fine. Just a minor head injury. He's conscious, but I'm keeping him here. Now I need to make sure that your leg is not broken anymore." He shook his head.

"Doctor-"

"Lieutenant Reed!" Phlox called. Malcolm poked his head back into the curtained off section. "She needs to not move. If her leg doesn't set properly, she probably won't be able to walk again!" At those words, Kelly froze.

"I'm not going to move." She said, her voice shaking. "Jon, how is he?" Malcolm nodded.

"He's fine. Insisting on getting out of Sick Bay. Trip is going ballistic in engineering, which is understandable, considering we almost had a core breech." Kelly started to sit up, but Malcolm gently pushed her back down.

"I need to help him." She said.

"Trip is going to manage just fine." Malcolm reassured her. "Your leg just may not, so don't move."

"Who's in command?" Kelly asked. "If you're down here, Trip's freaking out in engineering-"

"T'Pol woke up about an hour ago. She's on the bridge." Malcolm shook his head. "You haven't even been on the ship for a month, and you've been knocked unconscious twice! I think you're turning it into an art form." Kelly managed a weak smile, and jumped as Jon limped in.

"Kell! Thank god!"

"Captain, bed!" Phlox demanded, shooing him out of the room. He muttered something about humans and stalked off. Malcolm gave her one of his small smiles as the comm chirped.

"T'Pol to Lieutenant Reed." Malcolm punched the button.

"Yes Commander?"

"Ensign Gregory is requesting your assistance in the armory."

"I'm on my way." He said, and terminated the connection. With a worried glanced down at Kelly, he started to open his mouth.

"I'm fine Lieutenant." She said, rolling her eyes. "Go. We'll need all the help we can get if those guys decide to come back. We don't even know why they just ran anyway." Malcolm knew that when she called him Lieutenant, there was no question about whether or not he could argue. He couldn't. Shaking his head, he hurried off to the armory.


	5. Chapter 5

Kelly sat in her room, resisting the strong urge to throw the pad in her hand against the wall. With all the modern medicine in the world, and she still had to keep off her leg. Yes, she had sprained knee and ankle, but that was **not** a reason to keep here locked up in her quarters. After Phlox had found her on her way to engineering, he had told her that if he found her anywhere other than the mess hall or her quarters, he was going to confine her to sic bay until her leg was completely healed. Kelly grimaced. Though Trip had managed to stop the core breech, the engines were still in trouble. Wincing as she tried to stand up, she let out her breath in a hiss. The door chime rang and Kelly groaned. It was probably Trip again, giving her another reminder (in the form of a data pad) that she couldn't go anywhere.

"Trip, go away!" The door chimed again, she she rolled her eyes, wincing as she got up off her bed, and limped over to the door. She hit the button to open it, and was surprised to find Malcolm standing on the other side. She hadn't seen him in days. He looked tired, and obviously hadn't shaved in a couple of days. She gave him a meek smile, a little embarrassed because she wasn't wearing her uniform. Instead, she was wearing a pair of short sleep shorts to keep the cloth away from the brace on her leg, and a short tee-shit. "Sorry, I thought you were Trip." She said, holding the data pad. "He's been giving me at least three of these a day, and he's one short today." That brought a small smile to his face. As she turned to sit back down, pain shot up her leg, and she started to fall, backward. Of course it had to be while Malcolm was there, and it had to be backward, toward him. He caught her, and helped her over to the bed. She sat down and double checked the brace Phlox had made her wear. It was out of alignment. She started to get up, but Malcolm's hand was on her shoulder, firmly preventing her from moving. He glanced down at the brace, and stepped over to the comm panel.

"Reed to Doctor Phlox."

"Yes Lieutenant?"

"Lieutenant Archer's brace is out of alignment, again."

"I'll be right up Lieutenants." Kelly looked up at Malcolm.

"You don't have to stay." She said. "I know you've got a lot of work to do on the phase cannons." Malcolm shook his head.

"The Captain ordered me out." He said with a hint of a smile. "Didn't want his tactical officer keeling over from exhaustion."

"His words?" Malcolm nodded. Kelly shook her head. She had figured Reed would never use the phrase 'keel over' on his own. Kelly shook her head, and glanced up at the stack of pads on the desk. "Can you hand me that pad?" She asked, pointing. "The one second from the left." Malcolm handed it to her, and sat down on the bed beside her as Phlox came in.

"Let's have a look at that leg, shall we?" Phlox said. Kelly winced as he put a hand on her knee. Phlox frowned, a very unusual expression on him. "Lieutenant, have you been walking?" He asked. Kelly grimaced.

"Only limping around my quarters Doc." She replied. "I haven't left this room in two days." Phlox eyes darted up her leg, then at his scanner.

"Is there something wrong Doctor?" Malcolm asked, sounding concerned. Kelly felt like she had butterflies in her stomach, though she didn't know if they were because of her leg, or the fact that Phlox had turned her so her back was to Malcolm, and he had moved so he was close to her, his head over her shoulder. Phlox looked up at her, suddenly looking pleased.

"Nothing wrong Mr. Reed." He said. "In fact, I can move her leg into the next stage. Now Lieutenant, this is going to hurt. I can give you something for the pain afterwards, but not while I move it." Kelly nodded, and reached behind her for Malcolm's hand. His hand found hers, and she squeezed it. "Lean back." Phlox said. Kelly eyed him warily. "Lieutenant Reed has to hold you. If he doesn't, when I set your leg again, your natural reaction to protect your leg will take over, and I won't be able to set it properly. Now please lean back." Kelly did, finding her head resting against Malcolm's shoulder, the top of her head even with his chin. "Lieutenant, I need you to hold her still!" Kelly felt Malcolm shift under her, and his arms were around her, one holding her shoulders, one around her waist.

"I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with this Doctor." Malcolm said. He didn't sound very uncomfortable, and that earned a smile from Phlox as he put a hand on Kelly's leg.

"Ready Lieutenant?" He asked. This was directed at Kelly. She nodded, and felt the brace pull her leg back together. Phlox was right, the pain in her leg made her want to curl up into a ball, and she would have, had Malcolm not been holding her. As it was, he was having a hard time keeping her down. Plox finished setting her leg.

"Now Lieutenant Archer, I want you to stay off that leg! You won't walk properly again!" Kelly grimaced as Doctor Phlox pressed a cold hypo against her neck, then left. Malcolm removed the arm from around her shoulder, but otherwise made no attempt to move. Kelly closed her eyes, and leaned back against him. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this safe. She supposed it had been right after Trip had beat Talbot's head into the floor, and he'd come to her side. _Damn._ Why'd she have to think about that now? Suddenly the door chime sounded. Behind her, Malcolm started, and seemed to come to his senses, because he jumped to his feet. As his warm body left her back, she suddenly felt cold, and shivered. Malcolm managed to get to the desk chair before Trip entered the room. He looked from Malcolm to Kelly as he held up another data pad.

"Final check of the engines." He said. Kelly groaned, flopping backward on her bed and draping an arm over her face. She heard a soft laugh from Malcolm, and felt the weight of the pad drop onto the bed next to her. The door opened and closed again. When she looked up, both Malcolm and Trip were gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Only own Kelly. Everyone else is not mine. Just having fun with the characters

A few weeks later Kelly and Malcolm were sitting in the mess hall when Trip walked in. He eyed the two of them. They were talking in low voices, so he couldn't hear what they were saying. Suddenly Kelly sat back in her chair, laughing so hard she had to put a hand over her mouth as she started coughing. After a moment, Malcolm looked worried, and she stopped coughing.

"Don't do that!" She said, kicking him under the table, lightly. "I almost choked." Trip shook his head as he took a sip of coffee. Those two had been spending way to much time together. Then he saw something that made him freeze in his tracks. Malcolm was smiling.

Kelly took a deep breath and pushed the chime for the Captain's ready room.

"Come in!" She heard Jon shout. She opened the door and stepped inside. Jon looked up at her and smiled. "Hey Kelly. Haven't seen you for a while." He said. Kelly nodded.

"I was helping Lieutenant Reed with some upgrades." She said. "And helping Trip in engineering. That's actually what I came here to talk to you about." Jon frowned.

"Which one. Malcolm or Trip?"

"It's not them Jon. I don't really like switching from the armory to engineering every time one of them needs me. I don't really feel like I've got a place here." She said, and shook her head. "And I really need to have that feeling in at least a part of my life." She said. Jon raised an eyebrow, but Kelly didn't say anything.

"Okay, which one?" He asked. Kelly bit her lip. That was what she was having trouble deciding.

"I don't know." She said. Jon groaned.

"Well, which do you like better?" He asked. Kelly grimaced and shrugged. Jon sighed. "Fine, I honestly think we could use you more in engineering. How does that sound?" He asked. Kelly grinned.

"I guess that's okay." She said. Jon eyed her.

"Have a seat. I need to talk to you about something." He said. "While we wait for Trip to get up here. Archer to Tucker."

"Yes Cap'n?"

"Please report to my ready room."

"Aye Sir."

Jon turned back to Kelly. "Is something going on with you and Malcolm?" He asked. Kelly had to fight to keep from blushing. "Because as your Captain I'd like to know." Kelly shook her head. "And as your cousin."

"Nothing's going on Jon. Seriously." She added, giving his own steely glare her own icy one. "He's too much of a soldier boy to do anything." She said as the chime sounded.

"Come!" Trip stepped in, and looked from Kelly to Jon.

"You wanted to see me Cap'n?" He asked. Jon nodded.

"Trip, Kelly's decided to try her hand at full time engineering." Trip's face broke into a grin, but he didn't say anything. "Both of you are dismissed."

Trip waited in the hall for Kelly. "So you want bridge duty? The engineering station is right next to tactical." Kelly shot him an icy glare.

"So you suggested that Malcolm and I were together?" She asked. Trip held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Sorry. Just wanted to know. You can start on the bridge. I'll be in engineering. Come down after lunch." Kelly nodded as they emerged on the bridge, and took her seat near Malcolm. He glanced up at her, but didn't say anything. He never really said much to her while they were on duty, but off duty it was another story. They talked about almost everything to do with the ship. She had noticed that he got really quiet the one time she had mentioned her family, so hadn't mentioned it since then. She was pretty sure he didn't have a very good relationship with his parents.

Kelly sighed as she sat down to lunch with her data pad. A hand on her shoulder made her jump. Malcolm eyed her.

"Heard you made the switch to engineering." He said, sitting down. Kelly nodded.

"Thought it would be better." She said, not taking her eyes off the pad.

Malcolm eyed her. "Better how? You're amazing with the systems." He said. "You may even be better with them than me." He said quietly. Kelly didn't look up at him. They had been spending too much time together. She knew it, and knew that he knew it. She knew that he had felt the same connection that she had, and it was a strong one. Frankly, it scared her, more than anything ever had in her life.

"I've got to go." She said, getting up and grabbing her cup of tea, knocking over her water in the process. It spilled out onto the table. Malcolm quickly mopped it up with his napkin. "Now I've really got to go." She said, and feld the mess hall, leaving a stunned Malcolm behind.

As he continued to clean up the spilled water, Trip walked in. "What the hell'd you say to Kelly? She was running away from here like a bat out of hell!" Malcolm shook his head.

"All I asked was why she switched to engineering." He said. "I thought we were getting along fine, but. . ."

Trip sat down heavily. "Malcolm, I don't think it's your fault." He said. Malcolm looked up at him. Trip shook his head. "Ever since the incident I told you about, any time someone gets too close, she gets scared. That's why she took a leave from Starfleet." Malcolm raised an eyebrow at him. "When we got home two months ago, she was on leave to plan for her wedding. Jon didn't know she was on leave." Malcolm shook his head.

"Commander, I don't feel completely comfortable with this conversation." He said.

"Lieutenant, sit down." He said. Malcolm did. When Trip called him Lieutenant, it meant one of two things. They were either in a formal meeting, or he needed Malcolm to do something. Either way it was a bad idea to ignore him. "I know how close you and Kelly have gotten." He said. Malcolm opened her mouth, but Trip held up a hand. "I've seen the way you look at her. I know that look, because it's the way I used to look at her. No interruptions!" Malcolm closed his mouth again. "Now she's a little skittish when she realizes that someone's getting too close. Give her a little time, and she'll come back around." Malcolm looked up at Trip.

"Excuse me." He said, and left.

"We're approaching an uninhabited planet Captain." T'Pol informed Jon. "There are a few ruins on the surface."

"Of course. Because it would be foolish of them to be in the air." Kelly murmured from her station. She heard Malcolm cough loudly as he attempted to cover a laugh. Jon looked over at Malcolm.

"You all right Lieutenant?" He asked. Malcolm nodded, his face flushing briefly as he quickly found something to do at his station. Jon shot Kelly a hard look, as though he knew what happened. She quickly looked back down at her monitor. Jon cleared his throat.

"Malcolm, Kelly, T'Pol meet Trip in the launch bay. Go." The three of them moved to the turbo lift, and headed down to the launch bay. Trip was waiting. Surprisingly, he let Malcolm pilot the shuttle, and sat in the back, checking over the scanning equipment. Kelly sat down next to him.

"You're being kind of quiet." She said. He shrugged.

"Well, I don't really have a lot to say." He said. "Besides, this equipment needs checked." T'Pol swiveled about in her chair.

"Commander, it is not necessary to check that equipment. I have already performed the check of that equipment." Trip set his jaw and glared at the Vulcan.

"Maybe I want to check it again!" T'Pol arched an eyebrow, and turned around again.

"Trip, are you okay?" She asked. He nodded, setting down his pad a little harder than necessary. "You've been pretty quiet for the past few days."

"Not that you'd have noticed." Trip muttered as Malcolm touched down on the surface. He opened the hatch and they all jumped out on the ground.

"Lieutenant Reed and I shall proceed to the east. Commander Tucker, Lieutenant Archer, please proceed to the west." Malcolm glanced at Kelly.

"Is splitting up really necessary Commander?" Kelly asked. T'Pol arched an eyebrow.

"Logically, splitting up will prevent us from covering the most ground." Kelly shifted uncomfortably.

"I don't have a good feeling about this place." Kelly said, and shivered. Trip threw him a meaningful glance, and Malcolm glared at the chief engineer, who shook his head.

"We are splitting up Lieutenant." T'Pol said. "You and Commander Tucker check out-"

"I'm getting a power reading." Trip said, cutting T'Pol off. All three of them looked over at him.

"I thought you said this planet was uninhabited." Malcolm said, in an almost accusing tone. T'Pol looked about as confused as a Vulcan could get.

"It is." Kelly pulled out her communicator in sync with Malcolm as he pulled his phase pistol.

"Lieutenant Archer to Enterprise."

"Go ahead Lieutenant." Hoshi said.

"We need confirmation of a reading Trip just found." Malcolm eyed her. He had hear people talk like that before, but not ever in Starfleet.

"What reading was that?"

"Trip picked up a power reading, at these coordinates." Kelly said, sending them to Hoshi.

"Hang on Lieutenant." She said. There was a momentary pause.

"Kelly?" This time it was Jon. "I want the four of you to check it out." He said. Kelly nodded.

"Got it Captain." She said, and snapped her Communicator shut. Malcolm shook his head. He was surprised she hadn't said affirmative instead of 'got it.' She had been talking like a military officer, not Starfleet. He had a fleeting image of Kelly in full camouflage gear, and shook his head again. He highly doubted it. Suddenly realizing they were waiting for him, he moved toward the source. Malcolm entered the building first, followed shortly by Kelly, her own pistol drawn. Trip had thought they were both mad, arming themselves for an uninhabited planet. Trip was close behind Kelly.

"There's no one here." He said. Kelly holstered her phase pistol.

"He's right Malcolm." Malcolm nodded.

"I'll check the perimeter." He said. Kelly nodded, finishing her scans of the room.

"I don't think that-" A light flashed against her eyes, and suddenly everything went black.

Trip's limbs felt light. In fact, his entire body felt light. He opened his eyes to the familiar lighting of sick bay at night. He got to his feet, thinking that he was a little shorter than usual. He made his way to the sink in the corner, and splashed some water on his face. The next thing he had to do was find the doctor. He glanced up at his reflection in the mirror, and shouted in shock. The face staring back at him wasn't his own. It was Kelly's.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: This was a fun chapter to write. If you like the story, review. It only takes a few seconds, and it makes me feel so loved...

A shout woke her. Kelly sat up in the bed in sick bay to see herself standing on the other side of the room. She screamed and fell off the bed. She looked down at her hands. They weren't her own. They were larger, thicker and more calloused than her own. She whirled around after scrambling to her feet, and ran over to the mirror. Trip's face stared back at her. She screamed again, and Trip clamped a thin hand over her mouth.

"Kell! Calm down!" Kelly heard herself say. No, Trip say. Doctor Phlox appeared near then.

"What is all the commotion about?" He asked. Kelly pulled Trip's hand from her mouth.

"We're in the wrong bodies!" Kelly shouted. Phlox looked from the person he thought was Trip to the person he thought was Kelly.

"Lieutenant, Commander, this is not amusing. Now sit down so I can make sure that you're all right. I'll be back in a moment." He disappeared into his 'office, and reappeared a minute later, a scanner in his hand. "The Captain has been informed that the two of you are awake."

"Doc, we're not joking!" Trip said. The door to Sick Bay opened, and Jon and Malcolm strode in.

"Captain!" Jon eyed the person he thought was Kelly, then looked over at who he thought was Trip. Kelly was starting to get very annoyed.

"Jon, Trip and I have switched bodies." She said, fighting to stay calm. Jon stared at her.

"This isn't funny Trip." He said.

"It's true Captain." Trip said. He was getting as frustrated as Kelly. Malcolm shook his head.

"I don't believe this." He muttered. Trip set his jaw and glared at his friend. "Malcolm, need I remind you who you toasted when we were stuck on Shuttle Pod one?" Malcolm felt his face burn, and fought the urge to bite his lip. Instead, he assumed his usual stance, feet spread and arms crossed tightly across his chest.

Jon shook his head. "This may just be-"

"Jon, I don't want to have to tell them about the time we went to my parent's cabin in Maine, do I?" She asked. Jon's face went from shocked to beet red in the space of five seconds. Malcolm and Trip stared at him. They had never seen the Captain blush like that. It was actually quite amusing.

"Phlox, I want to find out how this happened." Jon said. Phlox eyed him. He was still sure this was a joke. Trip and Kelly could have told each other to say those things. "Phlox?" He nodded, and sighed.

"Lieutenant, you first." Kelly moved to the imaging chamber, and Phlox rolled his eyes. He had meant the person who looked like Lieutenant Kelly, but the person who looked like Trip had moved. Kelly's body hadn't even flinched. "Comander, you're next." Her body nodded.

"Well, the brain wave patterns are normal." Phlox said. Trip and Kelly both groaned. No one would believe them now. "Or would be, if they were not in the wrong bodies." Jon and Malcolm glanced at each other, then over at the two engineers, who looked relieved to say the least. Jon knew it was because someone believed them, and they had proof.

"I'm not sure about the two of you," Jon said. "But I think it would be a bit less embarrassing for the two of you if we were the only ones to know about this." Trip rolled his eyes. No, he rolled Kelly's eyes. They weren't his.

"Well, the rest of the senior staff should be told." Kelly said. She was still trying to get used to talking with the accent. Jon nodded. He still looked uneasy though. Kelly was sure it was because she had mentioned the incident at her parent's cabin. She knew that it would get his attention. "Jon, I'm not going to say anything about it." Trip and Malcolm looked over at her, a bit confused. "I wouldn't do that. I know it wasn't the best week for you." Jon nodded.

"Keep me informed." He said, and left Sick Bay at a near run. Kelly shook her head.

"So what happened at the Cabin?" Trip asked. Kelly glared at him.

A few days later, they still had no idea how Kelly and Trip has switched bodies, and Trip and Kelly could no longer remain off duty. People were beginning to ask questions, and Jon didn't want anyone finding something out. This was as much to protect Trip as it was to protect Kelly. He knew his cousin. The two of them had grown up together, almost like brother and sister. Since he was an only child, it had been easy for the two of them to grow close when they were kids. When he had joined Starfleet Academy, he felt guilty about leaving her alone, so when he had graduated, and she was old enough to join, he asked her if she wanted to. She had, and he had always thought it had been because she wanted to. Now he knew it was because she knew he wanted her to. He had been so happy that his brilliant cousin would be joining Starfleet that he hadn't seen what it had done to her. She hadn't spoken to the rest of her family since. He knew that. During the warp five project, when Trip and Kelly had become friends, he could tell that Trip was entranced by her, and he had tried not to interfere. He was glad he hadn't, because now they were best friends. When she had come on board, he had realized that he didn't really know who Kelly was anymore. She was harder, quieter than he remembered. When he saw her in the mess hall, laughing and talking with Malcolm, Travis and Hoshi, he realized how much he didn't know her. It pained him to think about, but she wasn't still the laughing, smiling outgoing little girl she had been when he left for the academy. Now she was in Trip's body, and they still had no idea what happened. He put down the report that had just been sent up from engineering. The comm beeped, and his heart jumped. Maybe it was Phlox with a solution to the problem. He didn't want Kelly and Trip stuck in the wrong bodies forever.

"Ensign Sato to Captain Archer." Hoshi'd voice came over the speaker. Jon dragged himself up to the panel and pressed the button to respond.

"Archer. What've you got Hoshi?"

"I finished translating those inscriptions that T'Pol found in the room." She said. "I think you'll find this interesting Captain." She said.

"I'm on my way." Jon said. He was out the door on his way to the bridge before Hoshi could respond.

Travis stared at Liz Cutler. "Could you repeat that please?" He asked. She had not just asked him what he thought she had.

"I asked you if you thought something was going on with Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Archer." She said. Travis shook his head vigorously.

"No way. I talked to Trip last week. He thinks there's something going on between her and Lieutenant Reed." Liz shook her head.

"Malcolm? No way. He's way too smart to do something about how he feels." She said. Travis shot her a questioning glance as he continued to eat his midnight snack. "Everyone knows Travis. It's so obvious. She's the only person on board who has ever been able to get him to laugh." Travis shrugged his agreement. "He'll probably never act on his feelings."

"What do you mean by that?" He asked. Liz did a rather good imitation of T'Pol by raising her eyebrow.

"What I mean is that she's the Captain's cousin." She said. "Though I get the feeling they're closer. Kind of like brother and sister. Or were." Travis shook his head, but let her continue. "She and Trip have been spending a lot of time together over the past couple of days." She said. "And we all know that Malcolm has feelings for her, and have you noticed how he's been ducking Trip whenever he comes into the mess hall?" Travis shook his head.

"I heard them shouting about the engines and weapons last week, right before Malcolm started avoiding him. They sounded pretty angry." Liz shrugged.

"Yeah, but I still get the feeling that something's going on that we don't know about." She said. Travis shrugged.

"Who knows?"

Kelly and Trip were pretty much the only ones left in engineering at this time of night. Kelly had been having a hard time sleeping since they had been switched. Trip suddenly stood up and gave the panel in front of him a good solid kick.

"Hey! Watch it!" Kelly said. His kick had been dangerously close to her head.

"I don't know how you stand it!" Trip said, a little louder than he'd meant to. "I can't even get a good damn grip on the thing, and my-your fingers are so damn small!" Kelly rolled her eyes, leaning over and pulling the panel off the wall. Trip sat on the floor and put his head in his hands. Kelly glanced down through the grating of the walk and saw that the rest of the people in engineering were staring at them.

"What're y'all lookin at?" She called. "Get back to work!" Trip sighed she was really starting to sound like him.

"I have to tell you, I've got a new appreciation for you and your hormones." He said. Kelly glanced at him, a small grin on her face.

"Oh, that's not even the worst of it Trip." She said quietly. "Imagine what you're feeling now times ten for a week straight." Trip groaned, and suddenly looked a little worried.

"You're not due for it-"

"Calm down Trip." She said, scanning the plasma relays again as he checked the EPS conduits. "I'm not due for another couple weeks. I hope to God we're back to normal before then." She said. Trip nodded.

"It's bad enough having to shower." He said. Kelly snorted as she tried to cover a laugh. Neither of them had been happy about that fact. Kelly shook her head.

"I don't like being a guy much more than you like being a girl." She said. "This all seems so surreal." She sighed, sitting back. "Like a dream I'll wake up from in a few minutes." She said, then laughed. "If this is a dream, what do you think it's telling me?" She asked. Trip laughed, and Kelly grinned. When her body laughed, she got a little sparkle in her gray eyes. She shook her head. Now she knew why Malcolm always smiled at her when she laughed. He shook her head, thinking about Malcolm. He was so damn confusing. Hoshi kept trying to tell her that he liked her, but she wouldn't hear it, or didn't want to. She shook her head. She definitely wanted to know it. That was it. She didn't want to hear it, she wanted to know it. She was the type of person that liked to know things. Things like why hadn't Malcolm talked to her since she switched bodies with Trip. It wasn't like it had been intentional either.

"What are you thinking about?' Trip asked her. She snapped back to reality. She shook her head, grabbing a scanner off the floor and quickly looking at the relays in front of her.

"Nothin." She said. She was still trying to get used to Trip's accent. It made it hard to pronounce words like she normally would. She glanced at her chronometer and sighed. It was nearly 0100 hours. Were she in her own body, she would have been either asleep, or talking with Malcolm. They had been doing that a lot before she had switched. Talking. Kelly had also noticed that she seemed to be the only one he could talk with like that. Around everyone else he was quiet and all about his duty, but the two of them talked about so many other things. She felt completely at ease with him. More at ease than she had felt since Talbot.

"Thinking about Malcolm again?" Kelly blanched and dropped the scanner into the bulkhead. Trip laughed, almost falling over the edge as he rolled around. Kelly eyed him.

"You're too easily amused." She said. "You've got to be tired." She said, fishing out the scanner.

"You were, weren't you?" Kelly snorted in reply and stood up. "I'm going to my - your quarters." She said. The comm panel chirped.

"Captain Archer to Lieutenant Archer and Commander Tucker." Kelly punched the button to respond.

"Go ahead Cap'n." Kelly said.

"Hoshi's translated those symbols." He said. Kelly got to her feet.

"We're on our way up." She said. As they walked, Kelly looked over at Trip. He had been uncharacteristically quiet for the past few weeks, so she knew it wasn't about the body switch.

"Trip, somethin's bugging you." She said. It was a statement, not a question.

"It's no big deal." He said. They had been trying not to use each other's names, and he had almost called her Kelly.

"Come on." She said as they stepped into a turbo lift. They were alone, so Kelly felt just fine with carrying out the conversation. "Something's been buggin you for weeks! I can tell!" Trip just shook his head. "Trip, you can talk to me." She said. "I know I don't say it a lot, but you're my best friend." Trip glared at her.

"So Malcolm isn't?" He asked. Kelly was silent for a moment.

"This is what this is all about, isn't it?" She asked. Trip suddenly looked uneasy. "This is about me spending time with Malcolm?"

"Yeah it is." He said. "I've seen the way you two look at each other, and frankly I don't like it!"

"What are you jealous?" Kelly shouted. "Why didn't you say something!"

"I'm not jealous!" The turbo lift doors opened as Trip finished shouting the last word. He stared at the two angry-looking senior officers, then backed up a couple paces.

"I'll take the next one." He said quietly, turned and ran down the corridor. Kely turned abck to Trip as the doors closed. Seeing him standing there in her body was still disconcerting for her.

"Oh, you're not?" She asked. "Could've fooled me!" The doors opened onto the bridge, and the two of them stepped out of the lift, glaring at each other.

"This isn't really going to help us Captain." Kelly looked up at Hoshi. The only ones in the Captain's ready room were her, Malcolm, Jon, herself and Trip. They had been forced to tell Hoshi what had happened. She had figured it out. Something having to do with their speech patterns. Jon rolled his eyes.

"We know why you guys got switched, but I think getting you back is going to be pretty complicated." He said. Kelly swallowed.

"That doesn't sound good Jon." He shook his head, and looked over at the young communications officer.

"You mind Hoshi?" She shook her head.

"No sir. Did you guys wonder why only the two of you were switched?" Trip and kelly glanced at each other. The though apparently hadn't occurred to wither of them. "I'll take that as a no. Well you two were switched because you were fighting. The ancient race that lived on this planet believed that by switching bodies with someone, you could come to understand them better."

"Yeah, well I think Kelly is just as confusing now as she was then Hoshi." The Ensign rolled her eyes and continued to talk.

"Well apparently it worked for them." She said. "And the only way to reverse the effect is to go back to the room and sort out your problem." Trip and Kelly glared at each other again.

"We're sending the two of you down there, and you're not coming back until you've got this settled." Jon said. "Now get ready and meet me in shuttle bay two in fifteen minutes."

Trip and Kelly were glaring at each other from opposite sides of the room. Jon was waiting outside.

"We need to talk about this if we ever want to get back to normal." Kelly said. Trip shrugged.

"Trip, I can understand that you're jealous." She said. Trip shook his head.

"I'm not just jealous." He said. Kelly eyed him. "I'm also worried about you." He said. Their eyed met as he continued talking. "You remind me so much of Lizzie sometimes." He said. "It hurts." Kelly shook her head.

"Trip, I'm really sorry about Liz. You know how much I liked her." Trip nodded. She and Jon had come to visit him in Florida one time when they all took shore leave at the same time. Liz and Kelly had gotten on great, abandoning the guys for hours on end to go off together. "But the Xindi threat is over. They're taken care of." Trip nodded.

"That's not where I was going with this." He said. He sounded pained. "I was going to say that you're like a sister to me, and I don't want to see him hurt you." Kelly crossed the room and put a hand on his arm - no her arm. Damn this stuff was confusing. It was making her head hurt.

"Trip, it takes a lot more than you think to hurt me. I'm not made of porcelain." He gave her a smile.

"I know."

"And you're always going to be my best friend. You know that." He nodded again, and opened his arms, drawing her into a hug. There was a flash of light, and everything went black again.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Please let me know if you think anyone's out of character. I really don't want to get them wrong...

Disclaimer: (I have to remember to ass this to all my chapters) I only have a right to Kelly. I am making no money, and am just using the characters for my own fun.

Jon sat outside the room. Everything was quiet. He had honestly expected more shouting than what was happening. Kelly and Trip were both incredibly stubborn people, and he doubted that this would be over soon. A flash of light nearly blinded him, and he jumped to his feet, running over to the doorway. Kelly and Trip were both unconscious. He pulled out his communicator.

"Travis, Phlox, get over here. They're unconscious again."

Kelly opened her eyes to see the dim lighting of sick bay, again. Everything suddenly came rushing up to her, including the floor as she rolled over the edge of the bed. She made a loud thud as she hit the floor. She had tried to stand, but she had suddenly felt so light that she had just fallen over. Phlox grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

"Easy Lieutenant." He said. "You're nearly fifty pounds lighter than you were this morning." Kelly grinned as she looked down, grateful to see her own body, not Trip's. "I'll inform the Captain that you're awake." He vanished again. He was very good at doing that. Within a minute, Jon ran into Sick Bay, gasping for breath.

"You're -- you again -- right?" Kelly grinned, bounding across the room and giving Jon a hug.

"That answer it?" She asked, her grin widening as Jon hugged her back.

"Yes it does." He said, releasing her. "I was worried. It's been a day and a half since you guys were knocked out."

"And you need to get some sleep Captain." Phlox said. "I'm sending the Lieutenant to her quarters, as I can find no medical reason to keep her here." Jon nodded.

"I'll walk her there." Phlox nodded, and handed the Captain a hypo spray.

"This will help you sleep." He said, and hurried off to check on Trip. "I'll inform you when Commander Tucker wakes up Captain." Jon lead Kelly out of Sick Bay and down the corridor.

"How're you feeling?" He asked. Kelly sighed.

"Really light." She said. Jon raised an eyebrow, in an almost Vulcan-like manner. "Trip's about fifty pounds heavier than me." She explained. Her room wasn't that far from Sick Bay, so it was a short walk. "Jon I'm fine. Seriously. Just deliriously happy to be in the right body again." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow." She said, and ducked into her quarters. She frowned when she saw the mess Trip had left her. She saw that the only spot in the entire room that wasn't cluttered was the bed. She was going to kill him. She had started picking up uniforms off the floor and putting them away when the door chime sounded.

"Come in!" She said. Malcolm stepped through, and eyed the mess.

"Trip left me a little present." She said. Malcolm eyed her.

"So you're not Trip anymore?" He asked. Kelly threw the uniforms in her dresser drawer and sighed.

"No, I am very much Kelly. Why does it matter so much?" She asked, throwing some of her other clothes back in her suitcase. Trip hadn't even worn those things, so why were they spread out all over her room? It seemed as though her dresser had just exploded.

"Well, I was thinking about something Trip said before the two of you switched bodies, and frankly he was right." Kelly shrugged, her back to Malcolm as she continued to pick up her room.

"Well, what does that have to do with whether I'm Trip or not?" She asked, turned around. He was only about a foot from her, and she froze when he reached out and pulled her toward him. His lips met hers briefly, and hesitantly. The mess in her room suddenly didn't seem that important to her anymore. He pulled away for a moment.

"I didn't want to do that to Trip." Kelly shook her head.

"Just shut up." She said, pulling him down to kiss her again. With on hand in his hair, she let the other trail down his back to his waist then around and up his chest. His arms encircled her waist, pulling her into him protectively. Her hands found their way to the zipper on his uniform, and she pulled it down as she deepened the kiss. She finally got his uniform unzipped, and pulled it down over his arms. She slid her hands up his chest again, then pushed him backwards onto her bed, breaking the kiss. Malcolm seemed to come to his senses.

"Kelly, I-" She straddled his stomach and leaned down again, silencing him with a kiss. She could feel him give himself over as he rolled her underneath him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer**: don't own wish i did...aren't making any money...

The loud blaring of Kelly's alarm woke both Kelly and Malcolm. She lifted her head from his shoulder as he made to get up. He made a grab for his uniform, but Kelly grabbed it back.

"Kelly, we have to go." He said. She sighed, and felt him move closer. Their lips met again, and it was Kelly who pulled away this time.

"We really should go." She said. Malcolm nodded, handing her her uniform and skivvies as he pulled on his own.

"Malcolm, it would be um. . ."

"Better if we kept this to ourselves?" He asked. Kelly nodded as she zipped up her uniform and grabbed a boot and shoved it on her foot. It was way too big, so she handed it to Malcolm. "I don't particularly relish the idea of telling the Captain." He said. "Though he doesn't worry me as much as Trip." Kelly grinned and kissed his neck.

"Come on." She said, hurrying toward the door. "We're going to be late, and then they'll really suspect something." They arrived a minute late for their shift. Kelly was pulling her dark hair back into a ponytail. Jon eyed the two of them.

"Sorry sir." Malcolm said as he strode swiftly to his station. Kelly was so glad that Trip was not on the bridge, or he would have freaked out.

"Ensign Bower to Lieutenant Reed." Malcolm eyed his counsel for a moment. Why would the ensign he left in charge of the armory be calling him.

"What is it?" He asked. He heard Kelly moved behind him, to try to hear what was being said.

"You'd better get down to the gym sir." She said. "And bring the senior staff."

"And why is that Ensign?"

"Because Crewman Alex Roberts is dead sir." Malcolm froze. Alex Roberts was assigned to the armory. He worked under Malcolm.

"We're on our way Ensign." Jon said.

"Kelly, bring Malcolm. Hoshi, Travis?" The four left the bridge, and once they were in the lift he called T'Pol and Trip who were in engineering, working on the sensors. When they arrived in the gym, Ensign Bower met them. She had put a towel over Crewman Roberts's face.

"Captain, may I suggest that Lieutenant Archer and Ensign Sato not see this? It is a little-" She stopped when Kelly stepped over and lifted the edge of the towel. Her face instantly went blank. She chewed on her lips as she stood up.

"Hoshi, Travis, get out of here." She said. They didn't move. She whirled around, her face stony. "That's an order Ensigns. Return to the bridge!" Trip and T'Pol entered the room as Jon lifted the towel a little bit. Crewman Roberts's face had been beaten almost literally to a pulp. Jon stumbled back a few paces as he dropped the towel.

"Consider that order reinforced." He said. "Go." Hoshi and Travis left. Kelly's face was incredibly stony as she looked at Jon.

"What was the weapon?" He asked. Kelly shook her head.

"No weapon was used." She said. "This was done by fists. He was beaten to death by someone's fists." She repeated the word fists for emphasis. "He must've been pretty angry at Roberts." Kelly said. "Until we know what happens, it'd be better if no one who knew him well was part of the investigation." She said. Jon bit his lip.

"I've got to call Admiral Forrest. Kelly, Trip, T'Pol?" The four of them moved from the room. They filed into the Captain's ready room as he called Forrest. They stood silently as Jon explained what had happened. Forrest nodded slowly as Kelly made her recommendation.

"Jon, I want a full investigation done. This shouldn't have happened." Jon nodded soberly.

"I agree Admiral." He said. Forrest nodded.

"I want you to put Lieutenant-"

"Lieutenant Reed worked closely with Crewman Roberts Admiral." T'Pol interrupted, an unusual occurrence for her. "You just excluded him from the investigation."

"I wasn't going to say Lieutenant Reed Sub-Commander." Forrest said, a touch of annoyance in his voice. "I was going to have Lieutenant Archer put in charge of the investigation." Trip and Jon both whirled around to stare at the stony-faced woman standing behind them. Until now, they hadn't noticed her stance. She was standing in the usual soldiers stance. Feet spread, shoulders and back straight, hands behind her back. Her face even held the same blank, emotionally distant look. T'Pol raised an eyebrow at the two confused men. She had seen that stance only in military humans, such as the MACOs when they had been on board. There had been nothing in Lieutenant Archer's file that had even hinted about military service.

"Jon, could I have a word alone with Lieutenant Archer?" Jon nodded and stood up. The three others left Kelly alone to speak with the Admiral.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer**: don't own wish i did...aren't making any money...

* * *

The entire crew was gathered in the Shuttle Bay. Roberts had been well known and almost liked all around. He could rub some people the wrong way though. Phlox was scanning the faces. He had few opportunities to study human grief. He wasn't happy for the man's death, but it gave an interesting perspective on humans. His eyes landed on Trip's face. The engineer looked perturbed, and his eyes were red. The two had been friends. The Captain's face was impassive as he gave a speech about Roberts, and how much he meant to the crew. Phlox's eyes passed over the Vulcan. He knew she would be showing little emotion. They landed on Lieutenant Reed's face. For the first time since he had known the man, he looked genuinely shaken. It was understandable however. It had been four days, and little progress had been made. Lieutenant Archer had talked with almost half the crew. Phlox himself had been kept busy with the autopsy, and talking with crew members. They had started coming into Sick Bay to talk with him. He had somehow been appointed the unofficial grief counselor of the ship. His eyes landed on Lieutenant Archer's face. Next to the Vulcan, she had been the calmest about this. Being a Doctor, Phlox had seen some pretty nasty things, but the sight of Roberts's face had made his stomach churn. The Armory officer had lost his lunch when he walking into Sick Bay at the beginning of the autopsy, but Lieutenant Archer hadn't batted an eye. She had walked smoothly past Malcolm and surveyed Roberts. For a split second, Phlox had wondered if she had done it, but he had seen the revulsion in her pale gray eyes. When she saw him watching her, a shutter of sorts had slammed down over her eyes. Besides, she just didn't have the brute strength to have done this.

"Now we say our final good-byes." Jon finished as Roberts's body was launched out into space. Lieutenant Archer was the first to move, walking mechanically out the door. Phlox had heard the crew talking about her strange behavior. She had been acting like a robot, they said, but Phlox knew better. After serving for years in the exchange program, he had seen humans like that before. Their emotions were expressed in the movements, and their eyes.

Kelly sat in the mess hall, drinking her hot chocolate and frowned at her data pad. Malcolm was supposed to have met her for lunch and hour ago. She got to her feet and went to find Trip. Not surprisingly, she found him in engineering.

"Trip, have you seen Malcolm?" She asked. Trip shook his head.

"No, why?"

She shrugged. "He was supposed to meet me for lunch an hour ago." She said. "And he's not in the armory, or on the bridge." Trip frowned, jumping down the last couple steps.

"It's not like him to be even a minute late." He said. "Much less an hour. I'll ask the Cap'n." Kelly nodded, chewing on her lip. "I'm sure he's fine." He said. Kelly nodded absently, turning and heading out of engineering. Trip shook his head. She had that thoughtful look. She had just thought of something, and usually that look lead to her getting into trouble.

Kelly walked into the armory to find Ensign Bower making some modifications to a computer bank. "Ensign." She said. Bower jumped at the sound of her voice.

"Sorry sir." She said. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Understandable." She said. "I apologize, but I forgot to make a note of where you were on Wednesday night?" Bower shrugged.

"In my quarters." She said. "Why?"

"Alone?"

"Yes. What's with all these questions Lieutenant? I thought that you established that a woman was incapable of beating Roberts that badly."

"Unassisted, yes. With the help of weighted sparring gloves found, it is possible." Bower's face darkened.

"Are you accusing me of something Lieutenant?" Bower's voice was low and dangerous.

"No I'm not _Ensign_." Kelly said. "I was asking where you were."

"I told you. In my quarters, alone. Why don't you ask Lieutenant Reed. He and Roberts were arguing that evening." Kelly shook her head.

"Because the Doctor established that Roberts was killed around 0100 hours. Lieutenant Reed has an alibi for an hour before and after the incident." She said. Bower's eyes narrowed.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

Kelly's icy eyes met Bower's, and she saw fear. She also saw the phase pistol in Bower's hand that was now pointing at her chest. Bower fired.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer**: don't own wish i did...aren't making any money...

* * *

Kelly's head was pounding, and her wrists ached. "Kelly!" The sound of Malcolm saying her name brought her back to reality, however slowly. "Kelly!" This time it was more insistent. "Wake up!" She moaned softly to let him know she was awake. "Oh god." He said. "Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine once someone stops using my head as a warp drive." She made a feeble attempt at a joke. "What's going on?" She asked, opening her eyes. Even in the dark she could make out the shapes of the equipment in the gym.

"I don't know." Malcolm said. "I was going to the mess hall to meet you for lunch and someone shot me from behind. I'm thinking it was the killer."

"Brilliant deduction my dear Watson." Kelly muttered, and she could feel Malcolm laugh. She moved her hands to find that they were tied together, then looped to the tie of his. "It was Bower." She said. "And I'm beginning to think I know why." The lights came on as she moved her hands closer to her uniform.

"Just beginning?" Bower's voice rang through the gym. "But -- to continue the joke -- it's only elementary." She laughed as she held the pair of Malcolm's sparring gloves up in front of his face.

"When they find these, they're going to believe it was you." She said. "And they're going to believe that you beat Captain Archer's cousin here to death." She said. Kelly felt Malcolm tense behind her. She had almost gotten her hands to her pocket. Just another half an inch. She brought her legs to her chest, and the slim metal slid into her hands. With a small flick of her wrist, the knife flipped open. She cut through the ties binding her hands first, hoping that Bower would forget that she had tied them together. She closed the knife and gripped it in her hand. She hoped she wouldn't have to use it again.

"I won't let you hurt her."

"Oh. Nothing can hurt the great Kelly Archer." Bower sneered, waving the phase pistol in her hands around. "Not even a bomb meant for her. Instead it kills an innocent man."

"Jack and anything but innocent Paula." Kelly said, using Bower's first name. "We both know that." Bower's face twisted.

"So you do remember." She said. Kelly closed her eyes.

"Your brother was a bastard Paula." She said, and Bower's grip on the pistol tightened. "But he was one of the bravest men on my team. He gave up his life to save literally hundreds of lives." Bower's face twisted even further.

"Don't talk like you knew him." She said. "Because you didn't."

"Paula, I was his CO. Of course I didn't really know him. He was my subordinate. Fraternization was frowned upon. That's why coming here is so relaxing."

_Relaxing?_ Malcolm thought. _She thinks this is relaxing? She's spent a third of the trip unconscious, and this is relaxing?_

"That bomb was meant for you and the Admiral." Bower's voice was shaking. "You should have been the one to die." She grabbed the front of Kelly's shirt and hauled her to her feet. Kelly's hand suddenly shot out, slamming into the side of Bower's neck. Coughing, Bower dropped her and stumbled back several paces.

"You're damn right Bower." Kelly said. "I should have. I would have had your idiot of a brother not shot me!" She leapt into the air, landing a spinning kick on the Ensign's shoulder. She flew back a couple paces, landing flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling. "You don't know how many times I replay that moment in my head, trying to figure out where I went wrong." She shrugged. "It was after I came on this ship that I realized that there was nothing I could have done differently. I couldn't have moved any faster than I did. Even if I could do it over again, Jack would still be dead. It was his decision, not mine so stop blaming me." Bower lunged at Kelly. It was a good, clean attack, but the way Kelly moved to avoid it was so fluid, it made Bower look incredibly clumsy.

"What are you two talking about?" Malcolm asked.

"I'll explain later." Kelly said. She sent another spin kick at Bower, only this time it landed on her temple. She hit the ground and didn't get up again. Breathing hard Kelly jammed down the button.

"Lieutenant Archer to the Captain."

"Kelly! Where have you been for the past four hours? We've been looking for you!"

"Unconscious. We found our killer."

"Unconscious?" That was Trip in the background. "Why were you unconscious?"

Kelly felt something press into her back, and decided not to answer. She could tell it was the barrel end of a plasma rifle without even seeing it. "Terminate the connection Lieutenant." Bower said softly. By the stunned silence on the other end of the line, Kelly knew that Jon and Trip had heard her. Kelly cut off the connection, and started to turn around.

"Don't. I know they heard me. Don't pretend that you don't know that they'll be down here in about a minute." Bower grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her harder into the rifle barrel. "And you're going to get me out of here. Neither of them would dare shoot with you in the crossfire."

"Then you don't know my cousin very well." She knew that was a lie, she just hoped that Bower would buy it. She didn't. Flinging an arm around Kelly's neck, she dragged her backward away from the door, seconds before Trip and Jon burst into the room with what looked like half the armory staff behind them.

"Take one more step and I'll kill her!" Kelly's hands were pulling instinctively pulling at Bower's arm to try to take the pressure off her windpipe. It wasn't helping. She was gasping for air. She maneuvered one hand to her pocket, and flipped open the knife. Bower hit it out of her grip easily, though she had to move the rifle to do so. Kelly hooked her foot around Bower's knee, tripping her. They tumbled backward, Kelly throwing her weight back onto Bower. Kelly threw Bower's limp arm off her chest and scrambled to her feet, trying to let Jon or Trip get a clear shot at the Ensign. Bower grabbed Kelly's ankle, knocking her to the ground, her rifle pointed at her head. Kelly bit her lip and looked around for her knife, but it was gone.

"This is for my brother." She said. "I only wish I didn't have to do this." She said. "But it was him who died last year. Not you. So you die now." Her finger tightened on the trigger. Kelly rolled out of the way as she fired, and the burst set to kill scorched the mat and part of her uniform. She rolled backwards onto her feet, and lunged at Bower, tackling her to the ground. Bower's feet slammed into her stomach, sending her flying. Kelly twisted in midair, landing in a forward somersault, and bouncing to her feet. Kelly glanced over at Malcolm who was staring at her in shock.

"Kelly!" Kelly ducked as a beam of blue energy went over her head. She dove to the left, staying inches ahead of the deadly beam. She suddenly ducked and rolled to the right, coming in for the attack before Bower could react. She slammed her elbow into her stomach, grabbing the rifle with her other hand. She twisted it, bringing it down to meet her knee. The rifle fell from her grip. Twisting around, Bower landed a solid kick to Kelly's kneecap. She fell back and collapsed on the ground, her leg screaming in pain. Bower had the rifle in her grip again, and was pointing it at Kelly's head. This time she didn't hesitate. She just fired. Kelly squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating the end, but she felt herself continue on breathing.

"Kelly!" She opened her eyes to see Bower was lying on the ground, her eyes wide and staring. Kelly's knife was buried in the side of her neck and a pool of blood was forming underneath her. Malcolm was kneeling next to her. She wanted to reach out and just let him hold her, but she couldn't. Jon and Trip were there. They couldn't know, she liked Malcolm with a head.

"Come on." He said. "We'd better get you down to Sick Bay." Jon and Trip arrived at her side a second later.

"Can you walk?" Trip asked, and he and Malcolm helped her stand on her uninjured leg. She gingerly put weight on her other leg, and gasped, falling into Malcolm. He managed a small smile.

"I'll take that as a no." He said, lifting her into his arms. Kelly shivered, latching her arms around his neck to help keep herself from falling as Malcolm carried her to Sick Bay.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer**: don't own wish i did...aren't making any money...

A/N: Thanks to everyone for the kind reviews! And as requested, more Kelly/Malcolm!

* * *

Kelly grimaced as pain shot through her leg. She was lying in Sick Bay for Phlox to make confirm that her knee was indeed not broken. Jon and Trip were gone, talking to Admiral Forrest, but Malcolm was still there. Kelly winced again, and felt Malcolm slide his hand into hers. Kelly saw Phlox notice this, but the look quickly passed and other than a slight widening of his smile, made no indication that that he had realized that Malcolm had moved. 

"Well, it's going to hurt for a couple days, but nothing's broken, or sprained. It's quite interesting actually. Commander Tucker said you looked quite distressed when it happened." Kelly bit her lip.

"That was actually a little bit of acting." She said. "Bower needed to think I was weaker than I was. Had she been alive longer, I could have used that advantage. That tactic has saved my life more than once." She said. Phlox raised an eyebrow, but said nothing else as he pressed a hypo spray into her neck.

"This should eliminate the pain. If it still hurts in the morning, come see me before you go on duty. We'll see about giving you some more." Kelly nodded, moving her leg back and forth. It didn't hurt anymore. She let Malcolm help her off the bed, but dropped his hand as they walked down the corridor toward her quarters.

"Sorry I haven't been around for the past couple of days." She said. Malcolm nodded silently. "I meant to talk to you, but I couldn't without someone figuring something was up. I didn't want to jeopardize the investigation. Roberts was a good person." Malcolm nodded again, just as silently. Kelly punched in the code for her quarters, and they stepped inside. "Malcolm, come on. Say something."

"Why did you ask me for extra training?" He asked. Kelly felt her face flush. She had asked Malcolm to train her in some martial arts techniques when she had first come aboard.

"Because I wanted to get to know you." She said. "You're a mystery to me, and I like figuring out mysteries."

"You want to know what's a mystery to me?" He asked. "You." Kelly was taken aback. She had never been described as a mystery before. "First they're your record. There's nothing to indicate that you would have the Admiral's confidence in a murder investigation, or the know-how. Nor should you have been able to fight Bower like that." Kelly sat down on her bunk, feeling a little sick to her stomach. "Nor should you have been so calm when you saw Roberts's face. Even I got sick to my stomach. And what was Bower talking about? She kept saying something about a bomb." Kelly put a hand over her mouth as the bile crept up her throat. She felt her eyes burn as she swallowed it. She was going to have to lie to him. She was going have to lie to Malcolm. She had to run to the bathroom, barely making it before she threw up. After she had rinsed her mouth out, she looked up to see Malcolm watching her, looking concerned.

"Ho long have you been doing that?" Malcolm asked, sounding worried. Kelly shrugged.

"Five days." She said. "Every time I see Roberts's face in my head. I can't help it. Plus I hated having to lie to you. I still do." Malcolm sat down on her bunk next to her. He put his arm around her shoulders gingerly.

"You don't have to feel bad." He said. "We all have secrets." Kelly nodded against his shoulder.

"Yeah, well not all of us have the kind of secret that I do." She said. Malcolm leaned back against her pillows, and she moved over, curling up next to him, nestling her head against his chest. "After the Xindi attack of Earth, there were a lot of xenophobic people around. Admiral Forrest got worried when someone attacked one of the other Admirals was attacked and beaten to death, so he set up a secret program. He didn't even give it a proper name. It's just called Project six-two-echo. I was one of the first members. He recruited the smartest, sharpest people from their respective fields. I just happened to be good at all of them. We worked to keep Starfleet safe from people who wanted to stop our space exploration missions. My team and I were sent to make sure that a building was secure. Jack Bower found a bomb in the building. The Admiral was next to me, so I ordered an evacuation of the building, and dragged Forrest bodily from the building. Jack tried to disarm the bomb himself, but he couldn't. It exploded, killing him and two other members of my team who were trying to get him out of the building. I didn't realize until this morning that Paula Bower was Jack's sister. Then I knew that she had killed him. I just had to find out how."

"The weighted gloves." Malcolm said. Kelly nodded against him.

"I'm sorry we haven't had a chance to talk over the past couple of days." She said. She felt Malcolm's cheek against the top of her head.

"Do we really have to?" He asked softly. Kelly sat up.

"Malcolm, I don't want to be just another one of your girls. I know how you were back on Earth." He grimaced.

"Kelly, you're not just another girl to me." He said quietly. He looked like this was almost physically painful to talk about. "Why do you think I waited so long to do something about the way I felt?" Kelly bit her lip.

"Because Trip and I switched bodies?" He closed his eyes, and looked like he was resisting the urge to hit something. "Sorry. Sarcasm is a defense mechanism for me." Malcolm nodded slowly.

"And keeping things inside is one for me." She said, opening his brilliantly blue eyes. "All those girls on Earth, they were just distractions for me. I never really felt anything with them." Kelly swallowed. "But I do with you." He tucked her hair behind her ear. "I can't explain it, but-"

"Then don't." Kelly said. "I have to admit, I have never felt closer to anyone before in my life." She said. "I don't think I have ever been in love before, not even with Harrison." When she realized what she had just said, she froze, looking into Malcolm's eyes, to see if he realized what she had just said. She had just admitted that she loved him.

"Malcolm, I-" His lips cut her off as they met hers. Once again, they were hesitant at first, like his hand on the back of her neck, but it soon trailed down her back, and pulled her on top of him as she pushed him down under her. Her body pressed against him. He gently rolled her underneath him. After a moment, he lifted his head away from her, breaking the kiss. Her breathing soft and shallow she lifted her mouth to his, but he pushed her back down gently. Malcolm had a content expression on his face as he just watched her. She smiled.

"What?" She asked. Malcolm lowered himself back down on top of her. She could feel his breath on her neck as he whispered in her ear.

"I love you." He said, his breath tickling her ear. He pulled his head back above her. He reached up and grabbed the zipper of his uniform, starting to pull it down. Her door chime sounded.

Kelly and Malcolm froze. Kelly was the first to move, pushing Malcolm off of her and scrambling to her feet.

"Get in the bathroom!" She hissed, yanking her hair back into a ponytail. She opened the door to find Trip standing on the other side.

"Took ya long enough." He said with a small grin. His eyes flickered around the room, lighting on her bed. The blankets weren't exactly straight, and the sheet was a little rumpled. "Did I wake you up?" Kelly just nodded, trying to look tired. "Oh. Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you were all right." He said. "Doc said that Malcolm was walking you to your quarters." Kelly prayed that he wouldn't try to walk into the bathroom. She nodded.

"Yeah. He left when I said I was tired." Trip gave her a small smile.

"Well, if ya want to talk about it, you know where to find me." He said, turning and striding out the door. Kelly glanced over at the door as it closed behind him, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Think he knew I was here?" Malcolm asked, emerging from the bathroom. Kelly gave him a small smile as she slid her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his. Sinking his hand into her hair, Malcolm deepened the kiss as his other arm circled her waist protectively. Her hands slid up his chest, and she pulled the zipper down on his uniform. They broke apart as she pulled it off his shoulders, pushing it down his chest. As soon as she had gotten it to his waist, she pulled off the regulation blue undershirt, and lay her hands on his chest. She leaned up to kiss him again, but he stopped her, pulling down the zipper on her own uniform. As he pulled it off, his fingers trailed lightly against her skin, making her shiver. He pulled it down past her waist before she stopped him, kicking the uniform off the rest of the way by herself. Malcolm did the same, and lay her out on her bed. He broke the kiss, and began trailing kisses down her neck and shoulder. He brought his lips back to her mouth briefly before trailing his lips down her chest. As he got further down her body, Kelly closed her eyes, and let herself melt.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:**Nothing Star Trek is mine, except Kelly. If it were, I wouldn't be posting anything here.

* * *

Someone was kissing her neck. Someone's warm body was pressed against her own. She didn't want to move, but the alarm clock was blaring in her ear. She removed a hand from under the covers, and hit the sleep button. It would go off again in eight minutes, but that didn't matter. She rolled over and looked up into Malcolm's brilliant blue eyes. He gave her a sleepy smile, trailing a finger up her arm. She shivered, and pressed against him. His arm circled her shoulders and he sighed.

"We should get up." He muttered into her hair. Her hair still smelled sweet from her shower the day before. Kelly shifted position and gave him a kiss.

"I don't want to." She said softly. Malcolm leaned down and gave her another kiss.

"Well you're going to have to." He said, and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He crawled over Kelly and grabbed his uniform and skivvies. Kelly didn't move as she watched him get dressed.

"Come on." Malcolm said, sitting back down on the bed to pull on his boots. "Do you want to eat breakfast or not?" She sighed and made her way over to her dresser. After she had dressed, she and Malcolm walked down to Mess Hall. Hoshi, Travis and Trip were sitting at a table. Malcolm sat off by himself with a data pad, which wasn't unusual, and Kelly sat with the others, which wasn't irregular either. After a few minutes of silently eating, she heard Hoshi talking to her.

"Kelly?" She glanced up from her breakfast at Hoshi. "You all right?" Kelly nodded absently.

"I was just thinking." She said. "It's been a long few days."

"Speaking of which, how's your leg?" Trip asked. "Bower got you pretty good yesterday." Kelly shrugged.

"Just a little bruise." She said with a shrug.

"You sure you're all right?" Trip asked. "You look a little flushed." Kelly felt her face burn. Luckily, she was saved by the bell. Alarm actually.

"Staff to tactical stations!" Came the barked order. All food was abandoned as everyone made for the foor to the mess hall. Kelly ran down to engineering while Trip made for the bridge. She made it to engineering to find that anyone with a rank higher than ensign was gone. Furious, she swung herself up to check on the warp engines. Did they not hear the barked order? Did they not see the tactical lights going off? Did they not hear the alarms?

The call came in from the bridge a few moments later. "Senior Staff, report to the situation room immediately." Kelly frowned. She was the only member of the Senior staff not on the bridge. Something didn't feel right.

The feeling only intensified when she stepped out onto the bridge. The only ones there were Hoshi and Travis. Her stomach sank when she saw their faces. She had never seen them look so upset.

"Where is everyone?" She asked. Neither replied. She glared at them as her stomach twisted nervously. If no one else showed up, she would be in command, and the thought didn't really appeal to her.

"Sir, you're the only one above the level of Ensign left on the ship." Travis said. Kelly had to grab the wall for support. She had seen Trip and Malolm leav the mess hall not five minutes before.

"Trip? Malcolm? Jon?" She asked. Hoshi shook her head.

"No sir." She said. Kelly waved away the title.

"Stop with the 'sirs' guys, please." She said. "I think I might be sick as it is." She said. "We're the only senior staff remaining?" She asked. Hoshi nodded.

"Yes s-" She caught herself. "Yes."

"Is Phlox still here?"

"Yes."

"How were the others taken?" She asked. She knew she was being blunt, but at this point she couldn't care. It was taking all her concentration not to throw up. Hoshi bit her lip. "We don't know. One minute they were here. Captain Archer was trying to talk with the ship, and suddenly everyone was gone."

"Transporter?"

"The science station showed some kind of energy reading." Travis said. Kelly closed her eyes, counting to ten before replying.

"Get Ensign Jordan up here to take over T'Pol's station. You two stay. I'll get people up for tactical and from engineering." She wished she didn't feel so sick. Trip, Jon, and Malcolm. The people she cared most about in the world -- in her world were gone.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, inspiration decided to leave my brain. Thanks to everyone for the kind reviews!

**Disclaimer:** Enterprise nor any of it's characters are mine. If they were, I wouldn't be posting here...

* * *

Kelly looked at herself in the dark screen. She hated the fact she was sitting in her cousin's chair. She hated the fact that Trip wasn't there making some wisecrack. She hated that Malcolm wasn't there to put his arms around her and make her feel safe. Somehow he was able to do that. She didn't know why. She had never felt as safe as she did when she was with him. The chime on the door sounded, and she took a breath to compose herself, and sat back in the chair. Hoshi entered the room at her call. 

"We found the ship." She said. Kelly nodded.

"Good. Tell Travis to lay in a course." She said. Hoshi nodded, but didn't move. Kelly sighed. "Something else?" She asked, sitting back in her chair. Hoshi eyed her.

"Are you all right?" She asked. Kelly sighed. She and Hoshi weren't particularly close, but they were friends.

"Tell Travis to lay in a course, then we can talk." Kelly said. Hoshi nodded and disappeared. She came back a couple of minutes later and sat down. Kelly sighed.

"You miss them, don't you sir?" She asked. Kelly nodded.

"First off, stop calling me sir if we're going to talk about my feelings." She said. Hoshi nodded. "And second, who do you mean by 'them'?"

Hoshi gave her a weird look. "Trip and the Captain." She said, then smiled. "And Malcolm?" Kelly groaned and put her head in her hands.

"Does no one mind their own business on this ship?" She asked. Hoshi laughed.

"You two have hardly been secretive about liking each other." She said. Kelly rolled her eyes as she sat back in her chair.

"I honestly never would have thought anything _could_ happen." She said. Hoshi's eyes snapped wide open.

"Something happened?" She asked. Kelly grimaced, and Hoshi started laughing. "Oh my god!" She cried, holding her stomach. "I can't believe that he -- you two-" Kelly groaned as the door chime sounded again.

"Come!" She called. Travis stuck his head inside, and eyed the still-laughing Hoshi warily.

"Uh, Lieutenant, we'll be arriving in about two hours." He said. Kelly nodded, and shot Hoshi a silencing look.

"I'll just go finish that translation I was working on." She said between fits of giggles. Kelly wasn't worried about the rest of the crew finding out, she knew that Hoshi wouldn't tell anyone else, but she wondered how Malcolm would react if he found out she had told Hoshi, however inadvertently. Would Malcolm ever be back to find out? She shook her head, banishing the thought from her mind as she stood up. She was going to get another hour or so of sleep. She flopped down on the couch and pulled one of Jon's blankets down over her body, more for comfort than to keep her warm.

His head was pounding. "Captain!" The soft, accented voice slowly brought him back.

"Cap'n, come on. Wake up!" Another accented voice said.

"As I recall, you had a rather serious headache when you woke." This voice was calm and steady, as well as halfway accusing. "Perhaps talking is not the answer."

"Why don't you all just stop trying to help me wake up?" Jon muttered.

"Cap'n, come on. We're not on Enterprise." Jon opened his eyes at that statement. He could see most of the senior staff around him. T'Pol, Malcolm and Trip. Two other Lieutenants were standing behind them. He made a mental count.

"Is this everyone who was taken off the ship?" He asked. Trip's face was pale.

"We don't know." He said. Jon frowned as he looked around the large room. It was filled with empty bunks.

"Well, there's certainly enough bunks." He said quietly. His stomach suddenly clenched. "If we're all here, and everyone else is one Enterprise, that means that Kelly's in command." Trip pulled a hand down his face.

"Oh boy." He said, and flopped down on the bunk next to Jon. Malcolm and T'Pol eyed the two of them.

"What's the problem with Lieutenant A-"

"Damn it Malcolm, we know you know her well enough to call her Kelly." Trip said, sounding annoyed. Malcolm's face flushed slightly. "I know it!" Trip crowed, leaning back, then doubling in laughter. "I knew you liked her." Malcolm's face flushed even further. Trip suddenly froze. "You haven't-" It was Malcolm's turn to freeze. He knew exactly what Trip was talking about.

"Haven't what Commander?" He asked. Tip was suddenly on his feet, a look Malcolm was all too familiar with on his face. Trip was angry. He had a smaller version of that look on his face when the upgrades Malcolm proposed for his weapons messed with Trip's engines.

"You know damn well what I mean Malcolm. Now did you?" Jon was on his feet to, looking from Trip to Malcolm. He was curious, though he knew that Trip was going to kick Malcolm's ass if he didn't answer him.

Malcolm hesitated. If he told him no, he'd be lying to a senior officer. If he said yes, Trip would try to pound his face into the floor. He could tell that his hesitation was enough of an answer for Trip.

"You did!" Trip launched himself at Malcolm. Malcolm ducked, diving to the side to avoid the flying engineer.

"Trip!" Jon shouted, but Commander Tucker was ignoring the Captain, his eyes intent of the Armory officer who was picking himself up off the ground.

"Commander-"

"Malcolm, of all people I would have thought that you'd obey regulations and-"

"Commander Tucker, may I suggest that you stop this childish behavior and help us devise a plan to . . . 'Get out of here'?" T'Pol said. Trip glared at Malcolm. "We understand that the Lieutenants are consenting adults, and may do what they wish on their own time." She said. "Including having intercourse. As for regulations, Lieutenant Reed and Lieutenant Archer are of the same rank, and neither are in the same field. Therefore it is not against regulations for them to have a relationship. Neither is it productive to analyze their romantic relationship at this point." Trip was still glaring at Malcolm.

"We'll settle this later."

"Trip, there isn't anything to settle. Kelly can take care of herself." Trip's eyes flashed.

"You didn't see her until after she was out of surgery that day Cap'n." He said, running a hand though his hair.

"Are you suggesting that I could do anything like that to her?" Malcolm asked indignantly. "I could never do anything to hurt her!" Trip suddenly sat down and shook his head.

"I know Mal." He said. "Maybe I'm just overreacting."

"Maybe?" Jon asked. "I seriously think you need to rethink that one. Trip, we both saw how well Kelly can handle herself with Bower. She would have even taken Bower out if she hadn't been trying to keep other people alive." He said. "Now can we stop talking about Kelly, who isn't here, and try to figure out a way tog et back to Enterprise?"

Kelly's stomach twisted. Jon, Malcolm and Trip were all pinned to the wall.

"Pick one." A voice hissed in her ear. "One will die, the others shall live. Pick one. . ." It hissed menacingly in her ear. It was a serpentine voice, the voice of something evil. "The day will come where you'll have to choose. Choose one. . . A misty figure swam in her line of sight, and she went straight for the throat.

"Lieutenant!" A strangled voice cried, trying to speak. Kelly blinked and realized that she was holding Travis by the throat. She immediately released him. He doubled, hand on his throat, coughing.

"Oh god Travis, I'm so sorry. Bad dream." She said. Travis grimaced.

"Noticed. You were muttering something in your sleep." He said. His voice was lower and slightly more strained than usual, making Kelly feel even more guilty. "We're about two minutes away from communications range from the ship." He said, and cleared his throat. "Hoshi's getting ready to hail the ship that's got the rest of the senior staff aboard." When he spoke this time, his voice was a little less strained. Kelly straightened her hair, skimming a flattening hand over it to make sure it looked presentable.

"I'll be right out." She replied, giving Travis a dismissive nod. He turned swiftly and fled the room. He shouldn't have just entered like that, but he had chimed six times. What is she had collapsed, or had a heart attack or something. No, she'd been asleep. He shook his head slightly as he sat back down at the helm. He shouldn't have tried to wake her up either, but she had looked like she was in pain. He could understand what Malcolm saw when he looked at her. Malcolm had what Travis liked to call 'a major hero complex.' Well actually him and all his friends. Lieutenant Archer would be happy and bouncy one second, then the next have painful memories wash over her, and it had to be enough for someone like Malcolm to just want to hold her until all the pain could go away. Travis himself didn't have any interest romantically in people that changed that quickly, or people who'd had the kind of past Kelly had. He heard the door to the Captain's ready room, and thought with a small smile about the second Archer to sit in the Captain's chair. Somehow she didn't seem entirely out of place.

Kelly sat down in the chair uneasily. She didn't belong there, and she knew it. None else seemed to take notice of this, they acted like it was perfectly natural.

"I have the ship sir." Hoshi said. Kelly glanced over at her, and nodded.

"Hail them."

"The line's open."

"This is Enterprise. Please respond." She said, trying to keep her tone level. "You are holding five of our officer against their will. Respond." When there was no answer, she glanced over at Hoshi, who shrugged. Kelly sighed. "If you do not respond, you will severely limit our options." The screen flashed, and a creature appeared on it. It was vaguely humanoid. That was to say it had two legs, a torso and a head. The only thing was it had four arms.

"Grobletz young one." It said. Kelly glanced at Hoshi. "My apologies. We have been having problems with our ship. Many of our resources have been devoted to maintaining an acceptable atmosphere for our guests."

"Your guests?" Kelly asked. The thing smiled.

"Yes young one. We wished to observe your species behavior close up. Your males are inherently protective of your females, are they not?" He --at least she shout it was a he -- asked. Kelly's stomach sank. Hopefully Malcolm was still alive.

"Yes they are." She said. "Now about them. Are they all right?"

"They are unharmed."

"We'd like to have them returned." She said, and had to bite her tongue to keep from grimacing. She sounded like she was talking about supplies, not about the people she cared about most. Maybe this was her way of distancing herself from it.

"Of course. We were unaware that in your culture this is viewed as an unacceptable action. I hope that this will not affect relations between our species." Kelly nodded curtly.

"We will have to see to that at a later date. Our officers?" She honestly had been expecting a fight. Not having one was sort of a relief.

"Will be returned momentarily." Lights shimmered all around the bridge, and the missing officers were suddenly there. "Grobletz young ones." The transmission ended. Kelly turned, and hugged the person closest to her, who happened to be Jon.

"Oh god I'm so glad you're back." She said, and he laughed.

"So how'd you like command?" He joked as she let him go. She made a face and punched the comm button.

"Lieutenant Archer to Doctor Phlox." She said.

"Phlox here."

"They're back and on their way to sick bay."

"Understood." She cut it off, and turned to see Malcolm glaring at her. She flashed him a grin.

"You're not getting out of going to sick bay Malcolm." She said, heading for the turbo lift. "Until Phlox verifies that it's actually all of you, I'm technically still acting Captain." Malcolm sighed and stepped onto the lift after the others.

The doors to the observations lounge opened, and Kelly turned, expecting to see Malcolm. Instead it was Trip. She flashed him a smile before turning back to look out the window.

"Kelly, I wanted to talk to you." He said. "Actually apologize is more the word." Kelly sighed, and turned to face him again.

"Trip-"

"No, let me say this. We may have settled the issue about you and Malcolm bein friends when we got our bodies back, but this is something different. When I realized that you two were-" He searched for the right word. "-Involved, all I could think about was Talbot, and how crushed you were after that. It's wrong, I know." He said in response to the icy look Kelly was giving him. "And Malcolm and I had a nice little talk about that before I came up here. No fists were involved, I swear." He held up his hands in mock surrender, and a grin flashed across his face before he became serious again. "And I know that he would never willingly hurt you. Damn, I've never seen him like this Kell. You've got him all nervous. It's hilarious." His famous grin was back. Kelly sighed as she shook her head, but she couldn't stop the grin coming over her face.

"I was going to tell you Trip. I was just waiting for the right time." She said.

"How long?" Trip asked. Kelly glanced up at him.

"Right after Bower was the first time." She said. "Then last night." She shrugged. "It just kind of happened. We're so alike, yet so different at the same time." Trip nodded.

"You've both got a huge hero complexes." He said with a laugh. Kelly rolled her eyes, and gave Trip a hug.

"You're still my best friend." She said, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Doesn't matter what happens." She said. "Now I think I'll go get some sleep. Worrying about you three idiots zapped my energy." She grinned, and ducking the pad Trip threw at her, catching it before it hit the ground. She chucked it back at him as she slipped through the door.

She found Malcolm in the nearly-empty gym. The two of them were the only ones there. They should have been, it was movie night. Everyone who wasn't on duty was there. He hadn't heard her come in, she could tell. He was running on the treadmill, headphones in his ears. She walked over to the panel behind him and eyed his music selection. Classical, it was something by Mozart. She sighed, and keyed up her choice in music, choosing a song from a twenty-first century band called Seether. As the hard rock blasted in Malcolm's ears, he swung around to see Kelly behind him, grinning as he yanked off the earphones.

"What the bloody hell was that?" He asked, stopping the treadmill. Kelly's grin widened as he stalked over to her. "I was having a nice workout, and-" Kelly threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in the crook of his neck, effectively cutting him off. He slid his arms around her and just held her.

"I was so worried I wasn't going to see you again." She muttered into his sweatshirt. He sighed.

"You shouldn't be." He said. "I'm not going to leave you." He said in her ear. Kelly pulled back, and caught his lips with hers. At first it was just a kiss, one that helped to calm Kelly, but then again, her kissing Malcolm wasn't exactly a relaxing activity for her. The kiss deepened and Malcolm pulled her into him tighter. After a moment, Kelly broke away from him, her breathing heavy.

"Maybe we should continue this somewhere else?" She suggested.

"My quarters are closer." Malcolm whispered, and lead the way. As soon as the door had closed, Malcolm pulled her to him again, their lips meeting again. Kelly's arms snaked around his neck, one pulling him into her, the other in his hair. Malcolm suddenly broke the kiss, swinging her up into his arms. He carried her across the room and lay her out gently on the bed before climbing over her. She grinned up at him, her gray eyes bright.

"What do you want for Christmas?" She asked, and Malcolm paused in surprise.

"What?" The grin widened.

"I asked what you want for Christmas." She said. "It's not that hard of a question." Malcolm sat up and ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, well, I feel I should make some sweet reply."

"Like what?"

"You."

She laughed, her eyes dancing. She crawled over so she was behind him, sliding her arms around his neck. "I'm being serious." She said. "Jon asked me to plan a Christmas party." She said. "It's only a week away. You want to help?" Malcolm sighed.

"I think asking Travis or Comman -- Trip would be a better idea. I'm not an especially big fan of parties." He said. Kelly grinned as she kissed his neck. She made a face.

"You need a shower." She said. Malcolm turned to her, a grin on his face. Kelly punched him playfully, but followed him.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** Nothing Enterprise is mine, nor will it ever will be. /tear/ This story has only been written for my personal enjoymnet of torturing characters. Happy reading!

* * *

The week flew by, and she spent Christmas Eve day in the mess hall with Travis, Trip and Hoshi putting up decorations. Every time she walked away from Travis and Hoshi, they would start talking in low tones. She knew what they were talking about of course. Her and Malcolm. It had been all over the ship. She wasn't sure who it had come from, but it was supposed to be a secret, so naturally it got out. She sighed and walked over to where Trip was setting up a table, or trying to. It didn't seem to want to cooperate with him. Kelly couldn't help laughing. The man could fix a warp engine no problem, but the setup of a simple table eluded him.

"Want a hand?" She asked. Trip glared at her.

"I'm fine." He grunted. Kelly rolled her eyes. Ah, the independence that was the male ego. She picked up the last of the decorations and tossed the non-breakable items to Hoshi and Travis, hanging the others herself.

"Kell, if you're going to get yourself dolled up for this evening, I suggest you start now." Trip said. Kelly looked up at him. "You've got two hours." Kelly's eyes snapped open and she groaned.

"Damn." She said under her breath. "I've got to get my dress out of storage." She hurried out of the room.

* * *

"I can't wear this!" Kelly shrieked from the bathroom. Hoshi laughed, and knocked on the door.

"What is it?" She asked. There was a moment of silence before Kelly threw the long black dress out of the bathroom. There were small pink dots all over the black fabric.

"I can't believe it!" Kelly shrieked again, coming out of the bathroom with her robe on. Her hair was done, and Hoshi had helped her with her makeup, but the dress was hopelessly ruined. "I ask him to do me one favor before we left Earth! Get my dress dry-cleaned! What does he do?" She continued to ramble about the dress for another minute before Hoshi interrupted her.

"Can I guess that this 'he' is Captain Archer?" Kelly made a face and nodded. "And I only packed on dress!" Hoshi sighed.

"I'll go see if the quartermaster has an extra dress." Hoshi said, and slipped out the door to escape the seething engineer. She laughs as she hurried down the corridor, her heels clicking on the deck plating. She was just hoping that Trip wouldn't have too much to drink this year, again. She collected two dresses from the quartermaster, though she had a feeling she knew which dress Kelly would choose.

She was right. Kelly had chosen the long black one. It was a spaghetti strap dress, long, black and formfitting. Kelly shifted around, surprised that it was comfortable. She sighed and rubbed the empty space around her neck. She would have looked better is she had a necklace, but she hadn't thought to bring one with her.

"You need shoes." She said. Kelly grimaced. She hated this part. The thin heels that never seemed to go out of style made her feel so clumsy. Reluctantly she put them on, and glanced at herself in the mirror. She hardly recognized the person staring back at her in the mirror. When she was on duty, she was a perosn, just a smart girl in a uniform. The girl, no, the woman staring back at her was beautiful. The long dakr hair was piled on top of her head with a few loose strands hanging down, and the gray eyes looked so full of life, so happy. She smiled, only increasing the beauty of the woman in the mirror. Hoshi grabbed her arm.

"Come on, we're going to be late!" Hoshi herself was wearing a red dress with a small V neck that fell just below her knees. She pulled Kelly down the hall. "Ooh, I can't wait to see the guys in their suits. I'm glad the Captain made it a formal occasion." She said. Kelly sighed as they entered the mess hall. Her gray eyes landed on the group of men standing on the other side of the room, mainly on one of them. His impossibly blue eyes seemed even bluer because of the dark collared shirt he had on under a black suit jacket. His tie was dark too. His gaze traveled down her body, and then went back up to her face. A small smile crept over his face as she walked over, but he hid it behind his glass of punch so the others wouldn't notice his gaze.

"Damn Kell." Trip said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Kelly grinned as Jon shook his head.

"You ruined my other dress." She said hotly, taking a menacing step toward him. Or it was meant to be a menacing step in his direction. Her foot turned and she nearly fell over. Malcolm being between her and the floor was the only thing keeping her from falling over. That and the arm that was sudden;y around her waist. Trip laughed as both of his friend's faces turned red.

"Lets get you both some more drinks." He said, and vanished into the crowd. Hoshi came over with Travis in tow, and burst into giggles. She pointed at something above Malcolm and Kelly's head, and Travis flashed them a grin.

"Look up Lieutenants." He said, and joined Hoshi in laughing. Kelly flicked her eyes skyward. There on the ceiling was mistletoe. Kelly's face darkened. Mistletoe had not been on the decoration list for exactly this reason.

"Ooh, they've got to kiss now!" Trip said, with a grin that told Kelly he was the one who had put it up. He had probably made sure Malcolm was standing under it too. Kelly grinned sheepishly and Malcolm as she gave him a quick kiss. His face flushed, and she quickly looked over at Hoshi and Travis.

"Okay, so who put that up?" She asked, feigning annoyance. Both held up their hands in mock surrender.

"Uh, I think I'll go get another drink. . ." Trip said, trying to slip away.

"Trip, I'm going to throttle you!" Kelly laughed as he ducked behind Jon.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: **Nothing Enterprise is mine, nor will it ever will be. (santa, where are you when I need you?)

A/N: I know this is a short chapter, but bear with me... there is a method to the chapter seperation. Speaking of seperation, thank you to the kind reviewer who pointed out that does not like little asterisks, which was what I'd been using to seperate the sections of my stories. I'll start putting the little bar things in. Happy reading!

* * *

_Captain's personal log._

_Well, it's Christmas morning. I gave most of the crew the day off, though I'm sorry to say that I had to keep a few people on duty to make sure we don't blow ourselves up. I had to make a few adjustment though. Crewman Green had a little too much punch last night, so I replaced him on the roster today. _

_Malcolm and Kelly make an interesting couple. Seeing them together didn't unnerve me as much as I thought it would. I had honestly thought it would make me react like Trip had when we were captured a couple weeks ago. They're just so . . . . Natural. I guess you could use that word. They're natural together. Trip's taking it a little harder than I thought though. He was right. I wasn't there for her after Talbot, but Trip was. Trip was the one who saved her, not me. Somehow that never bothered me, after all I had asked him to keep an eye on her when I was away. Back then I may have blamed Trip a little, for not being there. I know now that he couldn't have been expected to be there 24/7 but I couldn't understand that then. All I knew was someone had hurt my baby cousin, and badly. Then I got to see Forrest question Talbot, and I realized what a job Trip had done on Talbot's face. I can understand the bond between the two, and I laugh at the fact that Trip seems to be taking this whole thing so well. Seems. He's not taking it well, I know that. We've talked some, but it's not like we used to. Since the Xindi attack on Earth, Trip hasn't really been the same. I guess since his sister's gone, he views Kelly kind of like his sister, and wants to protect her in the same way.

* * *

_

"Computer pause." Jon looked down at the dog pawing at his leg. "Porthos, just this once, since it's Christmas." He said, and dropped a piece of cheese into the dog's waiting mouth. The door chimed and he sighed. "Come!" He called, sitting down. Kelly strode in, a box under her arm. She handed it to him as Porthos attacked her pant leg playfully. She laughed and scooped the dog up in her arms.

"Got you a present." She said as she avoided the dog's tongue, scratching him behind the ears. He stopped trying to lick her head and rested his head on her shoulder, his tail wagging. Jon opened the package to see a large picture. It had been taken by Trip on Earth the day before they left for Enterprise's maiden voyage to return the Klingon to his home world. She had tried to take off his hat, and failing in her attempts to grab it, had jumped on his back and tried to pull it off. Trip had tried to help her, and the camera had gone off, capturing the three of them. She had it printed and had made a wooden frame to fit the print. Jon looked up at his cousin with a small smile, which she returned.

"Kell-"

"Jon, the only thing you've been since I came aboard is depressed and withdrawn. The Jon I knew before you left, wasn't all the time. I miss him." She said. "Try smiling once in a while. It'll do wonders for you." She had stopped scratching Porthos behind the ears, so he had resumed the attack on her face with his tongue. She sighed, setting him down on Jon's bed.

Jon sighed. "Kelly, out here I've had to do a lot of things I'm not proud of." He replied. "Especially when we were fighting the Xindi." Kelly shook her head.

"Jon, I know." She said, her eyes suddenly fixed on the ground. "I've read the reports, and what they left out, Trip told me." Those large gray eyes wnet to his face. "The reason Forrest but me in charge of the investigation was because I worked in a secret group for Starfleet. We were set up to stop all the xenophobes from destroying Starfleet. None knew we existed." She said. "In order to protect millions of lives, I had to do a lot of the same things you did. Believe me, I've not proud of them either." She said. "But I couldn't have done them any other way, nor would I have wanted to. It could have yielded different results, and I couldn't afford to take that risk. You're not the only one Jon." He sighed, and let her hug him, folding her into his arm. "You just have to move on." She gave him a kiss on the cheek, patted Porthos on the head and left. Jon shook his head and picked up the picture.

"Computer, resume."

* * *

_Kelly just stopped by to say merry Christmas, and give me a lecture on how depressed and withdrawn I've been these last few months. I guess I have. She gave me a print of a picture that was taken of her Trip and I the day before we left to take the Klingon back to his home world. We were so happy then, and the three of us were closer than ever. I thought I knew everything about the both of them, but since Kelly's come back on board, I can't help but feel I don't know either of them anymore. _

_Well, I guess I should try to think more positive thoughts. After all, it is Christmas._

_End personal log. _


	17. Chapter 17

Wow. Er. . . What's it been five months? I am so very, very, very sorry. I started writing another fic, and honestly meant to continue this, but I completely forgot about it. I again apologize sincerely, and if you guys feel like throwing sharp pointy rabbit's teeth at me, please, feel free!

* * *

"Would you please open it?" Kelly asked. She knew she was whining now, but Malcolm deserved it. He wasn't opening his present.

"Kelly, I don't really think that me opening it-"

"Open it!" She said, tackling him on the bed. She sat down on his chest. "I'm not moving until you do." She said. Malcolm gave her a sly grin.

"Do you see me complaining?" He asked. Kelly glared at him.

"Open it, or I'll. . . .I'll get up." She said. Malcolm set the small package on the table next to the bed, and slid his arms around her waist. Kelly shifted on top of him, and grinned. "I'm going to get up." She warned, and Malcolm suddenly moved, swinging her down to the bed, underneath him. His knees were pressing her thighs together. Kelly started to reach up to push him off, but Malcolm pinned her arms to the bed.

"Try to get up now." He said with a grin. Kelly glared at him, but Malcolm could tell there was a smile behind it.

"You're trying to distract me." She said. Malcolm grinned as he caught her lips with his. After a moment he pulled away again.

"Is it working?" Kelly grinned mischievously.

"Kiss me again and find out." Malcolm leaned down to kiss her again, but as he did, her leg snaked out from under him. She wrapped it around his waist and flipped him over so she was sitting on him again.

"I'll take that as a no." Malcolm said as she handed him the box.

"_Open it._" Kelly said heatedly. Malcolm sighed and slid out from under her. He pulled off the paper and lifted the top of the box. He lifted out the contents, a black sweater. Kelly grinned at the look of surprise on his face. She positioned herself behind him, sliding her arms around his neck. "You look good in dark turtlenecks." She said, kissing his neck. "They made your eyes stand out." Malcolm turned and caught her lips with his. When he pulled back he grinned.

"How about I give you your present then?" He asked. Those huge gray eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"You got me a present?" She asked as he got up, crossing his quarters and pulling out a large, square box.

"Yes." He held out the box. "Picked it up a couple of weeks ago on Druidsa, when the Captain gave us the day to explore." Kelly tore off the paper to find a box, she tore off the lid to find a smaller box. When she pulled off the lid, she found an even smaller box. She eyed Malcolm.

"There is something in here, right?" She asked. He grinned.

"Yes, only one more box." He replied, shaking his head. Kelly could tell he was nervous, what was he nervous about? Did he think she wouldn't like it? She opened the last box to find a small velvet jewelry box. Her throat constricted as she lifted it out. It was about the right size and shape for a ring. She stared at it for a moment before Malcolm's hands closed around hers. "Open it, please." Kelly's stomach was twisted into at least a thousand knots as her fingers moved of their own accord, lifting the lid to the box. Inside lay exactly what she had thought. A ring.

Her breath caught in her throat as her mind raced. Was he asking her? It wasn't like she hand never thought about it before and she had been thinking about it more seriously since she'd met Malcolm. Her mouth opened and closed, but she didn't seem to be able to get the words she wanted to say out of her mouth. Malcolm was looking increasingly uneasy as the seconds passed and she was still silent.

"Kelly, could you um, say something?"

Her mind continued to race. She wanted to speak, yes, but what was she supposed to say to him? She didn't even know what she thought.

"Holy shit." She finally said something, but did she have to sound so shocked? The box fell out of her hands, the room suddenly felt too small. The walls seemed to be closing in on her. As Malcolm bent to pick up the box, she tore out of the room. She didn't want to look back because she knew he was going to look hurt. She knew if she looked back at him, she was going to go back in there and do something she wasn't sure she wanted to. She ran through the corridors until she burst into the observation lounge. She had been sure it would be empty, after all, it was Christmas, but it wasn't. T'Pol was there, standing in front of the window, her feet spread and her slim hands clasped behind her back. She turned as Kelly burst in, and raised an eyebrow.

"I - I'm sorry." Kelly blurted out. "I j -just thought it would be empty. I'll just. . ."

"That is not necessary Lieutenant." T'Pol said, her eyebrow arching even further. "Though I would have thought you would be spending your time with Captain Archer, or Lieutenant Reed." Kelly flinched at the mention of Malcolm, and T'Pol's brow only arched further. "Did something happen between you and Lieutenant Reed?" She asked. Kelly turned to leave. "If you wish to talk. . . Perhaps I can help." Kelly closed her eyes. T'Pol was probably the one person who was not going to be mad at her for running away or be mad at Malcolm that he had asked her. She turned back around. "You appear agitated. Did the Lieutenant do something?" She asked. Kelly shook her head.

"No. No, it was mostly me." She leaned back against the wall, then let her knees bend as she slid down until she was sitting on the floor. "Every relationship I've ever had, I sabotage. I just don't want to do that with Malcolm." Then it her. She already had, by running away. "But I think I just did."

* * *

Trip had seen Kelly racing down the corridor, completely oblivious to the stares she was getting. She looked positively terrified. His face flushed with anger, he marched straight down to Malcolm's quarters, positive he had done something to make her look like that. It had been a long time since Kelly had looked that scared. He jammed in his override code for the door, and stepped in, but something made him stop dead in his tracks. Malcolm was sitting on the bed, a small ring box in his hands. He was staring at it. Trip didn't even know if Malcolm knew he'd come in.

"She didn't say anything." He said softly. "Why didn't she say anything?"

"Malcolm? Is that what I think it is?" Malcolm closed the box and tossed it on the bed next to him. He didn't look up at his friend as he got up.

"If you think it's a ring, you'd be right." The door shut behind him with a soft hiss, just barely louder than Malcolm's voice.

* * *

T'Pol eyed Kelly. "So you ran away?" Kelly nodded, shaking her head.

"I don't know why." She said with a sigh. "I just got scared. I didn't with Harrison, but now. . ." She shook her head.

"Every person is different, and we act differently around them." T'Pol answered.

"Are you always that cryptic?" She asked. T'Pol gave a small shrug.

"I am merely trying to say that Lieutenant Reed is a different man than Harrison. You have to think about how you feel about the Lieutenant, not about Harrison." Kelly nodded, exhaling slowly.

"I really screwed this up."

"Perhaps you should have a talk with Lieutenant Reed." Kelly nodded, getting to her feet.

"Thanks T'Pol." She said as she hurried out of the room. Shaking her head, T'Pol turned back to the stars.

* * *

Kelly was growing frustrated. She's gone back to Malcolm's quarters to find him gone, the ring in the box on the bed. She'd searched the armory, but still hadn't found him. She headed down to engineering to find Trip standing at a station, frowning at a blank screen. He looked up as she approached, his frown increasing.

"So, what's the prognosis?" She asked, slowing in front of him. Trip shook his head. "I take it you talked with Malcolm?"

He nodded. "Yeah. He looked pretty messed up Kell. Why'd you take off?" She sighed, shaking her head as she folded her arms around herself protectively.

"I have no idea." She admitted. Trip shook his head, still staring at the blank screen.

"Well, I hope you two get it straightened out before dinner." She eyed him, looking slightly confused. "Dinner? With the Cap'n? Cap'n's mess?" Kelly closed her eyes.

"Damn." Turning, she headed out of engineering.

"Kell!" She turned back at Trip's call. "What're you gonna say?" She gave him a wan smile.

"What I should have said in the first place." With that, she ducked out of engineering.

* * *

What was it about him that seemed to repel women for long-term relationships? He had never understood this. He had thought, stupidly that she might want to spend the rest of her life with him. She didn't. _She didn't say that._ He told himself.

_But she ran out of the room._

_Maybe she was just scared. _A hopeful voice said in the back of his mind.

_I was scared too. I was afraid she was going to say no. A straight no would have been better. At least then I wouldn't have to wonder. _

Malcolm looked down at the speed control on the treadmill and punched it up a few numbers. His legs were burning, aching with fatigue but he didn't care. Maybe it would be better if he'd never told Kelly how he felt. But then he wouldn't have had her, even for the short amount of time they'd had. Why had she run? She had run away from _him._ Him. Malcolm. The doors opened and bright light from the corridor spilled into the dim room, keeping him from seeing the face of the person entering. He didn't need to though. He knew every curve of that body, how every part of her body moved. He turned his eyes back to the speed controls of the treadmill, and another muscle pinched, though it had nothing to do with his exercise. The music he was listening to stopped and Malcolm scowled. He would have to hear her, though he was pretty sure he didn't want to listen.

"Malcolm, I need to talk to you." She said. In the dim lighting she could see the pain on his face. Pain she'd caused.

"I don't want to hear it." Malcolm hit the stop button and jumped down, snatching his towel up and heading for the door. Kelly grabbed his arm, but he jerked it out of her grasp.

"Malcolm-"

"Whatever you wanted to say, I told you I don't want to hear it!" He shouted. She stopped moving and just looked at him in shock. Malcolm had never yelled at her before. He had hardly ever even raised his voice, and that had only been when they disagreed about the weapons systems. He could see the tension in her body, the way she was standing, holding herself, her arms around her body protectively. She was blinking a lot, and her eyes were brighter than usual.

"Malcolm, please." Her voice was shaking, and Malcolm's heart nearly stopped. He had scared her. He had never wanted to scare her like that, at all. "Just listen to me, okay?"

"Kelly, you made it pretty clear what you want." He said quietly. He hated how vulnerable he felt right then, and was surprised at how close he had allowed Kelly to get. He hadn't allowed anyone to get that close, ever. No one could ever hurt him this much. Only her.

"Malcolm, I don't know why I ran. Okay, well I kind of do. I was scared. I wasn't expecting you to propose to me like that, this soon. I freaked out and ran." She said and noticed that Malcolm had stopped edging toward the door. "It wasn't a no." He froze in place, and Kelly's heart stopped beating as she waited for a response.

"What are you saying?" Malcolm asked. Kelly let out a slow breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Are you saying. . . ?" Kelly swallowed as she felt her heart start again. She was amazed that she hadn't keeled over right then and there.

"Yes." She said slowly, her eyes closed as she made herself not fall over. "I'm saying yes." Strong arms were suddenly around her, lifting her off her feet in a hug. Malcolm spun her around before sitting her back down on the ground. Gray eyes met blue as they smiled at each other.

"Does this mean we're not fighting anymore?" He asked. Kelly slid her arms around his neck, hooking her fingers together behind his head.

"When were we fighting?"

"Did you not just hear us shouting at each other?" He asked. Kelly grinned, leaning in and trapping his lips with hers. His lips parted, enveloping hers as his hands slid around her waist, pulling her into him.

* * *

Trip strode down the corridor aimlessly. He had about an hour to kill before the Captain's dinner and had nothing to do. Kelly had gone off looking for Malcolm, so they were both presumably busy at the moment, probably duking it out or something. He sighed. They probably didn't even know how perfect they were for each other. They complemented each other impeccably. They argued almost as much as he and T'Pol did. He stepped into the mess hall to get a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly, the mess hall was relatively empty, most people were spending the day with their friends. They'd be down for dinner in another hour so most were hiding out until then. T'Pol was sitting at a table on the far side of the room, sipping her tea and reading a data pad. Trip got his coffee and headed over.

"You mind?" He asked. T'Pol shook her head, gesturing to the chair.

"Please." After a moment, she put her pad down. "May I ask you a question?" She asked. Trip nodded, a smile spreading across his face.

"Fire away."

"What is it about long-term commitment that scared humans?" She asked. Trip choked on his coffee.

"What?" He paused for a moment, then sighed.

"I don't know. You talked with Kelly." T'Pol nodded.

"We. . . Ran into each other in the observation lounge." She replied. "She. . . Explained the situation to me." Trip raised an eyebrow at her.

"And what'd you say to her?" Trip asked. T'Pol eyed him cautiously.

"I merely told her that she needed to remember that Lieutenant Reed is not her ex-fiancee. Harrison, I believe his name was." She shook her head. "She ran because she did not wish to. . . Hurt Lieutenant Reed." She took a sip of tea as Trip shook his head.

The comm suddenly beeped. "Senior staff, report to the bridge." Trip and T'Pol left their mugs on the table as they hurried out of the mess hall.

* * *

Again, I am so incredibly sorry about not updating. I am going to try much harder from now on, until I finish this. 


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